The CDU’s Social Wing strongly rejects the proposal by Allianz CEO Oliver Bäte to delay the payment of wages in the event of illness, not starting it on the first day.
“This proposal is entirely unacceptable” said Dennis Radtke, chairman of the internal workers’ association CDA, in an interview with the Tagesspiegel (Tuesday edition). “It represents a culture of mistrust towards all employees.”
Earlier, Sepp Müller, the deputy of the Union’s parliamentary group, had called on his party not to dismiss the idea of reducing system costs and to discuss it, as he told Politico: “Even if the topic of sick leave days is not in our election program, this could be an old-established approach.”
“But people with low incomes would be severely affected” Radtke, the head of the workers’ wing, fears: “I don’t want people to drag themselves to work when ill, putting themselves and others at risk, because they’re worried they won’t make ends meet.”
In his view, other cost-saving measures should be taken, such as a consistent digitalization or the removal of non-insurance benefits: “With class war from above, we won’t solve the problems in the statutory health insurance or move our country forward.