[pepsionice]

The unions belief in their power comes from years of strike threats and the government always backing down. There has almost never been a government position won when they threaten a strike. In this case, the government is actually out of money and could not possibly meet the 3 percent requirement, without a major tax on something...very likely gas because everyone tends to just accept that. If the government was smart, they would simply allow the strikes to continue...even if it lasted for weeks. The unions might finally realize the implications of the deeds.

[weikel]

The unions belief in their power comes from years of strike threats and the government always backing down

This was constantly happening during the time of the Weimar republic.