At the end of the summer break: reformers and brakemen in Berlin

At the end of the summer break, black and red reformers and brakemen are warming up in Berlin. Which category does the employee wing of the CDU and CSU fall into? His urgent appeal to Federal Labor Minister Bärbel Bas (SPD) to quickly present the draft laws for the second pension package is justified. It's time to retire.

However, the Union employee wing has not yet been one of the drivers of the intended major pension policy course correction. He is usually on the side of the brakes when it comes to keeping the costs of the welfare state sustainable. So his wish to be able to “reflect on concrete texts and formulations” of the new pension package in a “technically serious manner” in the parliamentary deliberations could simply be the idea of ​​defusing key points – such as the abolition of the early pension without deductions after 45 years of contributions.

Too much “protection of trust” endangers the hoped-for reform effect

This pillar of the pension plans has been causing controversy for weeks - and so the SPD and the Union have long been talking more about the “necessary protection of trust” than about the necessary quick end to the expensive “pension at 63”. In any case, the five-year transition period that Bas brought into play seems too long for the overdue course correction given the force of demographic change.

But Stefan Nacke, head of the black workers' group in the Bundestag, toots the same horn and at the weekend encouraged the Minister of Social Affairs in her criticism of another reform project: the requirement to provide a certificate on the first day of illness. The strict regulation is intended to discourage blue makers in the future. One can argue about how well the complex immediate sick note is suitable for reducing absenteeism. However, there should be no question that the escalating costs of generous continued payment of wages must be limited. They now burden companies with almost 86 billion euros per year.

Anyone who rejects the immediate certificate must make better suggestions. Waiting days would be an effective instrument with little bureaucracy, as would a lower wage replacement rate. How would it be if the Union workers' wing changed from being a brakeman to a reformer this fall - in the interest of growth and jobs?