The situation is quite tricky. Eno Index's correspondent from Sweden, Slobodan Muftić, reports that a certain member of the Rotary Club from Gothenburg, that is, a well-to-do gentleman, publicly admitted that he started buying food at Lidl for the first time in his life. Well, even the Swedish upper middle class, pressured by inflation, released the class-cultural brakes and knocked on the door of a disreputable price haven for the European proletarians. And she told us in the Balkans that the code that has been valid for that country for almost thirty years - 'cold, but standard' - is no longer valid.
But Swedish Rotarians are not the only unexpected social group in trouble with inflation. Namely, there is a group of people who live and work in Frankfurt, and who deal with inflation and money in general at their job. And he is engaged in producing reports, speeches and political-economic proposals that say that the increase in wages endangers the fight against inflation and that the only effective tool is to raise interest rates, which will take away that salary from some people because it will result in an increase in unemployment. However, they are not very inclined to apply these economic conclusions to their own case. Or they don't believe in them anyway. These are employees of the European Central Bank (ECB).
The management of the ECB offered them a 4,07% salary increase for the next year, however, this growth does not follow the growth of inflation, and the workers believe that their real wages will decrease. Carlos Bowles, vice president of the Ipso union representing ECB employees said: “People are losing faith in this institution. What the leadership of the ECB is telling us is the following - 'we failed to target inflation and now you, the employees, will pay the price.'" He added that the ECB is systematically reducing the bargaining power of workers and contributing to the growth of inequality, and announced that the union would in January to decide on further steps and the form of the protest.
And when it comes to forms of protest, the most effective one - a strike - is not very easy to organize in that institution. Namely, the ECB is not subject to any national law and operates under its own rules, which include a "mandatory minimum service" for employees and which is decided on a case-by-case basis. Therefore, unions and workers face a demanding task, especially since the boss, Christine Lagarde, has told them that there is no way back. We wish them the best of luck, but also that, in addition to their own salary increases, they should direct their efforts towards changing the political content they produce.
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