Union, employers reach pay deal for workers
German printing employers and the ver.di service workers' union have agreed to a contract which keeps the 35-hour work week largely in tact. The length of the working week had been a contentious issue, and the union repeatedly staged short walkouts during the long-running talks, as well as threatening to put a strike vote to the membership. Employers had wanted to give individual companies the chance to opt out of the 35-hour week, but said they were unable to obtain what they "originally envisioned in terms of reform."
See Associated Press, The Boston Globe, June 15, 2005