Olli the postman makes his rounds on these bitter cold winter days in Berlin. But he's not just delivering letters - he's also on the front line of a struggle for greater social justice amid Germany's rapidly widening gap between rich and poor.
Several troubling socio-economic trends have been simmering below the surface of the country's seemingly placid society for a few years. But it's the German government's recent decision to implement a minimum wage for letter carriers that has helped spark a full-blown national debate about greedy executives and exploited workers in the age of globalisation.
'I was quite pleased they pushed through the minimum wage - it works in other European countries so it should work here too,' says Olli, a friendly and articulate man in his fifties who rolls his own cigarettes.
German society, once known for its cohesion, consensus-oriented labour ties and general economic equality, in recent years has begun drifting apart. At one end are the captains of industry, raking in massive salaries and bonuses even as their companies flounder or make people redundant. And at the other are the growing legions of working poor, struggling to make it to the next pay cheque and finding their employers are squeezing labour costs by offering fewer benefits, lower wages and limited job contracts.
'Morale at the Post is bad right now; they just keep trying to get more and more out of their people,' Olli says between puffs on his smoke. 'My private life is ruined. I work 50 to 60 hours a week and never have two days off at a time.'
Standing in front of his bright yellow trolley filled with letters and packages, he asks not to be identified by his surname since his employer, Deutsche Post, has forbidden letter carriers from talking to the press. The company, a postal and logistics behemoth partially owned by the government, is all too aware of the heated public discussion surrounding the minimum wage decision, as well as the poorly timed sale of stock options worth millions of euros by Deutsche Post chief executive Klaus Zumwinkel.
This month, the ruling coalition agreed - amid the strong backing of Mr Zumwinkel and against the loud protests of Deutsche Post's considerably smaller private competitors - to set a minimum wage of Euro8 to Euro9.80 (HK$91 to HK$111) per hour for postal workers. One of the private companies, the Pin Group, immediately announced it would sack 1,000 workers and could eventually have to file for insolvency. Another, TNT Post, said it would no longer try to deliver letters for private customers since it would not make economic sense with the legislated minimum wage.
