THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
Excellent news for all workers in Germany. The federal parliament, the Bundestag, on Friday passed a bill raising minimum wage from 8.82 euros to 9.82 euros per hour from 1 July and to 12 euros on 1 October.
The increase will affect 6.2 million people, out of an active working population of 45.2 million people.
The bill was passed by a large majority in the parliament, with support from MPs from the ruling centre-left-led coalition as well as the far-left Linke party. The conservative CDU and far-right AfD abstained.
The increase of Germany’s minimum wage is one of the cardinal policies in Olaf Scholz’s campaign manifesto for elections last September.
And it’s coming at a fitting time given that consumer prices rose by 7.9 per cent, a post-reunification record for Germany driven by the rising cost of energy, in May.
Vivian Asamoah
