Some 14,000 journalists in German newspapers can expect a 1.3 per cent increase in their salaries on 1 June 2004. The deal was reached after over 17-hour-long negotiations on Wednesday morning in Berlin. The federal association of German newspaper publishers (BDZV), the German journalists association (DJV) and the ver.di trade union also agreed on
a cut in holiday pay from the current 100 to 80 per cent of the gross salary, as well as a decrease in the length of holidays. The agreement came only in the eighth round of the negotiations, which have thus earned the status of longest wage negotiations for journalists in
decades. The ver.di trade union has already advised its members to accept the agreement, while the publishers also found it “acceptable
