Deutsche Telekom AG employees who will enter the second week of a full-blown strike Monday are still highly motivated to continue their industrial action to protest the company's plans to outsource 50,000 jobs.
'The employees are still very angry about the company's plans for them,' Ver.di trade union strike leader Ado Wilhelm said in an interview with German news agency DPA.
'The people are highly motivated and are not allowing themselves to be cowed into not participating (in the strikes),' he added.
In bid to cut up to to 900 mln eur costs annually, Deutsche Telekom plans to transfer 50,000 employees into a separate T-Service unit, with longer working hours and a pay cut.
Meanwhile the German government, Deutsche Telekom AG's biggest shareholder, intervened last week to resolve the nationwide strike launched 10 days ago.
Finance minister Peer Steinbrueck met with Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann and Ver.di trade union head Frank Bsirske last Wednesday for two hours.
SPD Parliamentary Head Peter Struck was also present at the meeting. No concrete agreement was achieved during the meeting, it added.
