Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - The opposition SPD accuses the future black-green state government of North Rhine-Westphalia of neglecting the interests of employees and low earners. Parliamentary faction leader Thomas Kutschaty criticized plans on Monday to sell START NRW GmbH - an employment agency with a social focus - to a private company.
The state currently holds more than 25 percent of the shares in the company, which was founded in 1995 under the then SPD Prime Minister Johannes Rau, said Kutschaty. With the sale, the more than 1,000 employees are threatened not only with job cuts. The social focus of society is also in danger of being lost. In an urgent motion for the plenum on Wednesday, the SPD calls on the state government to commit to the continued existence of START NRW in its current form.
"Black-Green threatens to become a government for higher earners that doesn't have an eye on everyone in our country at the same time," said Kuchaty. In a further motion for the plenum, the SPD calls for support for 2,400 employees at the Vallourec steel tube factories in Düsseldorf and Mülheim, which are threatened with closure.
The fact that the CDU and the Greens were also unable to agree to a financing commitment for the striking employees at the university hospitals in the coalition agreement is a "huge disappointment and an indictment of both parties". According to Kuchaty, strikers from the university hospitals will follow the plenary debate on Thursday at the invitation of the SPD.
"Black-Green is perhaps a coalition for more wind turbines and cycle paths," said Kuchaty. But it will not be a coalition for average earners or for people worried about their rent, rising prices or their children's educational opportunities.
