Several hundred protesters clashed with police at a Berlin unemployment office as a sharp cutback in jobless benefits took effect in a government effort to push people to find work.
Police in riot helmets used pepper spray on Monday as they blocked protesters from entering the office in Wedding, a working-class neighborhood with high unemployment, and made several arrests.
Smaller Protests
Scattered protests in Nuremberg, Munich, Leipzig and Stuttgart drew only a few dozen people each, falling far short of mass marches by tens of thousands in August and September against Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's labor market reforms.
The new law taking effect on Monday is dubbed Hartz IV, after Volkswagen executive Peter Hartz, who headed a commission that drew up the reforms.
It is part of Schroeder's program to shake up the country's expensive welfare state benefit system and spur more economic growth.
Lower Payments
After people use up their basic jobless benefits -- whose duration varies -- the new system will lower their payments to 345 euros (US$465) a month in western Germany and 331 euros (US$408) in the formerly communist east, plus rent and heating allowances. Previously, people could receive more than half of their last net salary.
In addition, those getting the reduced aid may be forced to take part in government make-work projects for 1 euro an hour if they don't get another job.
The idea is to provide an incentive to get off unemployment.
But, with the jobless rate higher than 10 percent, many unemployed fear there won't be work to find, and Schroeder's initiative has drawn critics from within his own Social Democratic party.
"I don't hope for much from the labor market," said one of the Berlin protesters, Klaus Rathmann, 53, who said he has been out of work for seven years since losing his job with a tobacco company.
Mixed Reaction
"I think they're going in the wrong direction," he said.
A parliamentary spokesman on labor issues for the Social Democrats, Klaus Brandner, called the launch of the changes "a good day for our country."
He cautioned, however, that more changes could be in store if the new law doesn't work.
"If it turns out it isn't efficient, it will be changed as soon as possible," he said on ZDF public television.
Conservative opposition politician Roland Koch warned that only an upturn in economic growth could create more jobs for people to take.
"The chancellor has left the impression that Hartz IV will create jobs," said Koch, the governor of the southwestern state of Hesse.
"The reform, by itself, won't create any new positions," he said.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS