RTD 24

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Party Membership revealed
Today the party membership for the United Duchies political parties was announced with two parties facing a major crisis. The first party is the Left who dropped from over 1.9 Million members to just 454,234 members with most seemingly returning to the PSD. The other party to suffer was the UoD who are increasingly seen as elitist , pro-business (some allege corporatist) and anti-worker in polls having opposed a myriad of labour friendly reforms. The party has seen its membership drop to 3,220,987. The drop is of concern as donation caps have remained the same while for future elections political spending limits are rising dramatically meaning more members are required to fund the campaigns but also because of the lack of volunteers to deliver leaflets potentially and man stalls on the streets making recruitment and campaigning harder.

The total amounts for each party are as follows for national parties:

Party	Party Membership	Total Revenue	General Spending	Candidate Spending	Total Spending	Surplus
ADA	6,012	£178,857.00	£145,634.00	£30,420.00	£176,054.00	£2,803.00
The Left	454,234	£13,513,461.50	£25,678,545.00	£18,666,000.00	£44,344,545.00	-£30,831,083.50
IUIC	56,785	£1,689,353.75	£1,535,645.00	£150,360.00	£1,686,005.00	£3,348.75
PSD:	4,634,865	£141,363,382.50	£65,000,000.00	£54,900,000.00	£119,900,000.00	£21,463,382.50
Liberal Party:	4,027,876	£121,843,249.00	£65,000,000.00	£54,900,000.00	£119,900,000.00	£1,943,249.00
Moderate Party:	5,710,987	£184,179,330.75	£65,000,000.00	£82,350,000.00	£147,350,000.00	£36,829,330.75
Union of Democrats:	3,220,987	£100,655,843.75	£65,000,000.00	£60,390,000.00	£125,390,000.00	-£24,734,156.25
Unus	5,631,900	£181,628,775.00	£65,000,000.00	£61,000,620.00	£126,000,620.00	£55,628,155.00
AFD	1,896,756	£61,170,381.00	£35,732,456.00	£30,809,820.00	£66,542,276.00	-£5,371,895.00
Total	25,634,390	£744,873,396.25	£387,946,646.00	£363,166,800.00	£751,113,446.00	-£6,240,049.75

The Left meanwhile have been left with a catastrophic hole in finances threatening the viability of the party. It is expected the leaders of the Left and and Union of Democrats who also are now in negative territory on spending are likely to need replacing. The leader of the UoD was already confirmed to be leaving to make way for a new leader but this may be done sooner following the collapse in membership.

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Roscoes open trial Roscoes Go stores concept
Today Roscoes opened trial Roscoes Go technology supermarkets in 10 of their supermarkets 2 in Brummagem, 1 in Cair Para, 2 in Goudadam, 2 in Hamborg, 1 in a new store in Irmgardis where they have reopened up , 1 in Baltia , and Porterdam and 1 in Aranvale. The concept is that tills have been removed entirely . You go into the store by logging in at the gates through the app, cameras then track what goes in and out of your basket. You just walk out and you are charged the appropiate amount. The stores have the same amount of staff but the difference is they are now free to man stands for tasters , engage with customers and help elderly customers shop and do other activities rather than dealing with payments. The technology is powered by OGO with the gates for entry being full height and only letting a single person in. There is hope the technology can improve customer service by freeing up staff. To shop one will require the Roscoes Go app powerred by Ogo. For those who don't have smartphones compatible such as tourists and some elderly people there is a request button for help where they can request a device from the staff with the app on it with special recognised I.D's at the gates that prevent customers from leaving without staff retrieving the device.The gates may also hold people with alcohol in the basket or age restricted items in the basket or if things like medicine are brought that have buy limits. If there is too much items with buy limits staff are alerted to go and make the customer put the excess over the allowed amount back. This will allow enforcement of buy limits. The stores will also not open the gates for people who's faces are on a banned faces list with this being trialed to see if it works. If it does not fingerprint technology to enter is likely to be considered to keep stores safe.Some staff will also be on hand at exits to check whats being charged for against what is in the basket in order to report on if the technology is working correctly but also ensure customers aren't being charged for something not in the bags or basket.If customers try to get around buy limits by going through another gate behind someone else leaving the technology will report this to the app and customers will be charged quadruple the price of the total basket.

The company said in a statement "We have agreed with employees to productivity reforms and use of technology to get our partners doing what they do best serving the needs of customers on the shop floor instead and restocking shelves that empty quicker. This is not about reducing staff but instead focusing the staffs on serving the needs of the customer rather than manning tills for payment."

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Price Selling Cooperatives raise minimum price selling rate by 6%
Today the Price Sellling Cooperatives members voted to raise the Minimum Price Selling Rates on crops and livestock produce by 6% the inflation increase +1% they are allowed to increase it in law. The Price Selling Cooperatives part of the agricultural unions raised the price in order to keep their business sustainable. The new price rise is much less than the 15-30% proposed last year due to the law regulating price increases. Farmers are however increasingly campaigning for a removal of the law with the Moderate/Liberal/PSD coalition in charge to allow them to once again have free reign on setting price floors, this however has been confirmed as off the table by the Moderate Party and Liberal Party who are committed to a "policy balancing needs of farmers and consumers".

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Reform sees Politician Pay linked to to Minimum Wage
A Reform passing parliament put forward by the PSD has passed parliament. The reform will see politician pay linked to the minimum wage in what the PSD described as a "Victory for the working class ensuring politicians are incentivised to keep the minimum wage high". The reform is designed to raise living standards and protect the minimum wage from every being cut or increases being slowed down by future conservative governments.The pay rates for this year are as follows:

-	£	Euros	% of Minimum Wage
Minimum Wage as of May 2023	£32,760.00	€50,778.00	100.00%
Duchy First Minister	£114,660.00	€177,723.00	350.00%
MP/House of Duchies/Imperial Senate Pay	£131,040.00	€203,112.00	400.00%
Cabinet Member Pay	£147,420.00	€228,501.00	450.00%
Deputy PM Pay	£155,610.00	€241,195.50	475.00%
PM Pay	£163,800.00	€253,890.00	500.00%

The pay for politicians in other Duchies will be linked to the Duchy minimum wage.

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United Duchies on lockdown as terror attacks unfolds
Breaking news 24/06/2023 16:37
The United Duchies is on lockdown with all borders and international travel suspended until further notice as a a terror attack has unfolds. There are reports that the suspects are Svarnan in look and origin with the words "This is for Svarna " and "Tarek was right " having been shouted during the attacks. The attacks have targeted the T20 Blast , Duchies Cup games in Football and The Super Cup games in Rugby all significant events. All public events have been cancelled for the day. The attacks are the first since alot of the security laws were loosened in United Duchies as a result of Liberal pressure a move that is now likely to be questioned following the attacks.

A tweet by Roscoes suggests he was at the events with his his sons enjoying a dose of sports with family and extended family as was the High Duke who has now been evacuated.The Prime minister has convened a COBRA meeting of all security and cabinet to determine the government response.

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Police and intelligence ignored warnings for fear of racism
An informant has come to us today with the most alarming allegation. We spoke to an informant who has worked in with the police and intelligence higher circles. It has been alleged that the Duchies Intelligence Security Service,Police Intelligence Secrity Service and the Duchies High Police all had warnings about threats from within the Svarnan community with the Svarnan Community informing the law enforcement. However the warnings were ignored with the leaders refusing to launch investigations or focus efforts on the Svarnan community for fear of being branded racist. Instructions were passed down to not investigate to avoid allegations of racism against the police and intelligence services potentially reducing trust among minorities in law enforcement. The lack of investigation according to the informant meant that key oppurtunities to stop terrorist plots were missed for fear of stoking racism and increasing support for the far right.

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23 suspects arrested as country to open up borders on Monday
23 suspects have been arrested for the attacks in the United Duchies with all of them being Svarnan. Critics of the response have accused the United Duchies government of racism asking why more white people have not been arrested and 23 Svarnans have been arrested when they make up 2.64% of the population. Lawyers are expected to use the racist bias arguments in their defence.

The police have denied racism and profiling with the head of the High Police Otto Holdermann saying "We are not a political or identity focused police force. We are simply following the evidence and unfortunately in this instance the evidence points to Svarnan suspects. We cannot arrest innocent white citizens just in an attempt to not look racist and neither can we let these suspects go out of fear of looking racist"

The Duchian Football Association ,Duchies Cricket and Duchies Rugby have all announced that games will be replayed next weekend under tight security conditions with armed police at the games to ensure security and smooth running. The government have also announced they will be increasing presence of armed police and looking at reversing recent changes in law such as reinstating smart CCTV and security measures against crime and terrorism reversing the planned shutdown of the identity databases.Tarek Al Wazir accused the government of conducting a false flag operation to reintroduce authoritarianism and called on the EU to sanction the United Duchies until its economy collapses calling the government "the real terrorist regime who deserve to be killed by resistance fighters". Critics are calling for Al-Wazirs extradition and arrest however police have confirmed they have investigated whether comments have broke the law and concluded they fall within the bounds of free speech as defined by the Duchies constitution.

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High Duke announces Concert of Unity at Ludger Unification Memorial Arena

High Duke Nikolai III has announced a Concert of Unity following the terror attacks in Duchies at Ludger Unification Memorial Arena with tickets for 150,000 to be available with all victims of the terror attack who were injured and their families allowed to register tickets for free as well as family of victims who died as well. Tickets will be sold in a priority queue system with people who attended the games in question and can show tickets from the games higher in priority in the queue for tickets.

The concert will feature headline acts such as UB40, and Black Sabbath from Brummagem, Halestorm this years Eurovoice entry In Extremo,Robbie Williams, The Cranberries,Shinedown,Chapter 13,Black Veiled Brides, Nickelback and Linkin Park among others in the 6 hour set. About 8 foreign acts are to be invited with acts from UK , Reitzmag , Svarna Surya who recently condemned the attacks and Yosai to be invited with those to be selected by their countries head of state. The theme of the concert is Concert for Unity emphasising songs of love Unity and opposing racism and extremism following an increase in anti-Svarnan incidents increased in the last few days from far right extremists. The 10 of the Reitzmen Royal family including the king and PM and family have been invited as has the Yosainese General Secretary , deputy general secretary and family , Svarnan President and family and 12 of the UK Royal family including the King and Prime Minister and family to show unity with Jean Claude Juncker,Speaker Tilkanas, Wirt Harland and all Commission candidates also being invited to the concert , 1/3 of tickets are being reserved for UK citizens with any not sold by next week allocated to another round for Duchians.It is understood Rahul Singh-Bhatavadekar has been invited as a special guest and will also be in attendence.The concert will be held on 15th July 2023 at 17:00 to 00:00 with high security.His Highness High Duke Nikolai III said in a statement "We wish to unite all of Europe in music and show terror will never defeat Europe. This isn't a concert just for the Duchies but for our British brothers and all those affected by disharmony and discord in Europe. Those who wish to divide us may try but shall never succeed. We are one we are european. "

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Sports resumes in defiance of Terrorists
This weekend concerts and sports resumed with games replayed that were cancelled and interrupted last week by the terrorist attacks with increased security to keep the events safe. There were longer lines for security to get in but as the Cricket, Football and Rugby resumed there was a sense of excitement and defiance among the crowds. All events featured commemorations of those lost with clubs such as Brummagem Bears inviting the surviving victims out of hospital to the games to take part in a ceremony with the Roscoes children involved in this along with the other victims.The Prime Minister John Peter Key said in a statement "We are glad the games and sports are back on. The attendance and turnout which is greater than before the attacks shows one thing. United Duchies has not and never will be cowered by terror into submission. You attack this nation we will defy you , I have one message for the cowards who killed innocent Duchians. You will face justice and those who wish to cause harm and think they are hidden , we will hunt you down and you will face merciless justice. Remember we have solitary cells ready for you to live in for life."

The High Duke Nikolai III was seen at one of the games in Cair Para. He said at the game "Today and this weekend we have shown we are stronger than the enemy. We are stronger than those who cowardly kill and target women and children. You can try to kill us, you can try to kill our spirit, but we will always come back stronger and more united than you. There are more of us than you, if you pick a war with the Duchians you will lose."

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Government Traffic plan unveiled
Today the comprehensive traffic plan of the new government for the next 10 years was revealed. The current road network is 580,472 KM including 11,279 km of toll highways and 21,020 km of Autolight roads with 56,506 KM of segregated Cycle lanes or Cycle Super highways.The plan for the country is to increase toll highways to 11,730 KM of toll highways roads and triple Autolight Roads to 63,061 KM while doubling the Segregrated Cycle lanes and Cycle Super Highways to 113,012 KM increasing the cycle super highway network from 5,740 KM to over 30,000 KM creating a whole parralel car free cycling network connecting all towns and cities in the country.

Road network	Km of Roads and cycle ways	% of Roads	Planned 10 years time	%	Increase
Paved Roads	512,687	88.32%	538,321	81.19%	25,634
Highways	11,279	1.94%	11,730	1.77%	451
Cycle Super Highways/Segregated Bikelanes	56,506	9.73%	113,012	17.04%	56,506
Total	580,472	22.04%	663,064	100.00%	82,592
Autolight Areas	21,020	4.10%	63,061	9.51%	42,040

Them move is hoped to shift the modal share as follows

Mode	%	Target %
Car	35.20%	22.00%
Bus	11.70%	12.49%
coach	1.60%	3.20%
Train	10.90%	10.40%
Light/ Rail Metro	7.50%	9.10%
Air	0.00%	0.00%
Bike/Scooter/Pedo-Vehicles	21.80%	27.40%
Walk	9.90%	13.89%
Other:	1.40%	1.52%
Total:	100.00%	100.00%

The government said in a statement "We recognise cars are needed however we need to reduce the modal share. Adding lanes to highways or car friendly infrastructure is not going to solve congestion problems it will only make it worse and make travel slower for everybody. Our aim is to make for more areas public transport , cycle ,scooter and pedo-vehicles the default instead of the car through innovation such as demand responsive buses and by making it easier to cycle safely getting more families cycling as they feel safer even in the countryside where respondants tell us they feel less safe cycling with children due to mixing in with traffic. We believe our progamme of segregated cycle lanes and bike paths and cycle super highways combined with more auto-light streets will increase the walking and biking share taking car journeys of the 15 km and below journeys. We are not anti-car but we believe cars must serve their niche of being a mode used for hauling larger loads or for distances or times where public transport and other modes are not viable or where the person is disabled and needs to carry a wheelchair or alot of disability aids around and whish to make journeys for groups who need to use cars, vans and trucks quicker by reducing unnecessary car journeys by proving options."

The opposition UoD have opposed the plans calling the plan an "attack on the car driver" and alleging the plan will harm the economy calling for restrictions on the growth of bike infrastructure and subsidies for public transport and calling for more car parking spaces.However experts and the government have countered this narrative saying all evidence has shown the Auto-light streets, cycle lanes and cycle friendly infrastructure combined with public transport upgrades decrease journet times overall , make the country more accessible and also more economically prosperous by providing more slow passing traffic for businesses to benefit from with trials showing dramatic increases in spending in areas where the policies have been implemented.

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Auto-light Zone Plan announced
Today the government announced it would be making funding for cities for transport conditional as of today . The government announced it would make the funding condition on cities making at least 3% of the their cities total land area Auto-light zones or Auto-free with extra money for cities who go further than the 3%. The government also announced support for the entire area inside of the ring roads of Brummagem and Couentre and most of the inner circle of the ringroad of Hamborg into an auto-light zone with much of it to. Be Auto-free zones with Goudadam also announcing 40 sq km of Auto-light and Auto-free zones in its planning. Major cities are expected to have at least 20 sq km of Auto-light and Auto-free zones with Hamborg announcing over 59.85 sq km of such zones.

Auto-light zones allow for commercial traffic at certain times of day for major deliveries and small vehicles for deliveries as well as taxis and public transport an d commercial vehicles while restricting car access for all but the disabled and residents. The zones will feature more dead end streets to stop through traffic. The scheme is aimed to make city centres and high streets more livable and more walkable safely.Auto-free zones ban all cars and taxis on top of the previous restrictions .Park and ride schemes are to be set up to allow easy access to the zones for people outside of cities who may have to drive in.Parking spaces will be limited with parking limited in the centres though a core of disabled parking spaces will be maintained. The plan has been praised by urban planners and is supported by the PSD, Liberal Party, The Left and The Moderate Party with the government citing lack of capacity for cities to deal with cars as a reason for trying to limit them further. The UoD and Unus are opposing the plans describing it as a "war on the car".

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Fires spread in Duchies as temperature soars past 47 Celsius

Today fires that have dominated the south border by the Napa Valley despite the brave efforts of the fire service have spread with many homes evacuated in rural areas. Fires have over doubled in reach as the temperature soared to 48 Celsius with air quality dropping and all excercise outdoors being advised against due to temperature and pollution. All the most vulnerable groups including elderly have been reccomended to stay indoors in the city of Bielefeld with sports games moved or cancelled in many places due to safety.

The government said in a statement "Safety of our citizens is a priority and we are doing all we can to help. This is the fault of many European nations and the EU who have consistently failed to act on carbon emissions and greenhouse gas emissions. We can expect more of these issues unless there is a radical push to reduce to net zero by 2030 and more extreme weather in the future. This is a warning to the EU that failure to introduce car efficiency drives and taking polluting vehicles off the road, cutting back on flight usage modal share and industrial emissions is not working. We need action and need action now, the excuse of cost is no longer a valid excuse, there is no point in being rich on a planet where you cannot survive and long term costs will be far more than prevention costs now. We will continue to work to raise the alarm in the EU on environmental issues and fight the climate change deniers or people who frankly just don't care as pawns of polluting businesses against the interests of the European average citizens."

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ECON Terminals and Port Terminals established
ECON Airport Terminals and Port Terminals for intra-econ travel have been established. The new terminals and port terminals will be available to ships and aircraft that have not traveled via non-ECON territories. Similar facilities have been set up in the other countries of ECON including Reitzmag and Yosai. The terminals will have fewer border checks only checking that ECON ID or a passport and ECON- Visa is valid allowing for travel with ECON state IDs easing convenience of travel .The new initiative agreed on at last years Summer ECON Summit by leaders and nationstates will ease travel and reduce costs within the ECON zone. Shipping companies are already using the ECON port terminals for trade between Yosai , United Duchies and Reitzmag with plans for this to be implemented with Mishar.

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Government hits out at Juncker "tarriff imposition lie"
The United Duchies Prime Minister hit out at what he called a "lie and smear against the United Duchies by President Juncker" in a recent interview condemning the interview for stoking tensions. John Peter Key said in a statement "Both of my governments since Telum kicked out the United Duchies have tried again and again to secure a summit with all of Telum in order to secure good positive cooperation and continuation of the 0% tariff arrangements before the transition period in law runs out . Duxburian Union and Inquista both negotiated economic and security and education cooperation arrangements independently of Spain in the end . North Diessan, Inimicus and Spain have flat out refused to negotiate future arrangements after essentially breaking the Telum treaty , they cannot break the Telum Treaty yet expect the Duchies to continue the 0% tariffs breaking domestic law requiring a treaty for such arrangements that is voted on by parliament. They were warned about the deadline multiple times and talks were requested regarding visa, travel and trade arrangements. Its their fault they now lose all of those priveleges that come with treaties that must pass parliament. Now if they want to get off their pathetic victim complex and come to the negotiating table and in Inimicus's case and North Diessans case return the stolen assets we are willing to discuss a fair settlement of cash or return of assets on both sides and resumption of the previously free trade and reduction of barriers we previously had. However they need to come and speak to us preferably as one bloc to simplify matters for that to happen. "

The countries laws require tariffs to be 10% as standard with any reductions or increases from that to be voted on by parliament after the decision is made to confirm it with any transitional tarriff and customs regulations to end after the defined period of 1 year in law. Extensions were voted on in parliament but that period ran out.

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Roscoes faces store growth constraint in Duchies

Roscoes has been banned from opening new stores except for replacing older stores in the council areas of Brummagem, Goudadam , Couentre Derventio and Hamborg as the retailer reached over 35% marketshare in each of the markets. The Competition and Consumer Protection Authority initiated the bans as it judged Roscoes to have a monopoly under the law in these regions. The competition commission said in a statement "We have intervened to make sure there is no growth in store count to enable true and real competition for consumers in the supermarket and convenience sectors in these regions." The retailers marketshere is expected to grow this year with other regions expected to be subject to a store expansion ban for Roscoes next year. The Competition and Consumer Protection Authority is putting Roscoes under special monitoring in all areas due to its current marketshare.

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Hapag Lloyd and MSC to set up DU subsidiaries
Hapag Lloyd and MSC cargo shipping announced today they would be setting up shipping companies in Duxburian Union within the month for shipping to the mediteranean region. The businesses will be split into two operation Hapag Lloyd and MSC and Hapag Lloyd and MSC Shipping Mediterranean. The move comes to create a legally distinct company headquearted in Telum territories. The move will help avoid any tax issues that could be present and beaurocracy. The new company will have ships transferred within 2 weeks.

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Duchies Parliament votes in all three houses to put Spain on Schedule 5 Tarriffs over Gibraltar tax changes
The United Duchies parliament voted in all three houses to raise tariffs on Spain to Schedule 5 tariffs , the 35% band the same as Inimicus and North Diessen up from the current default schedule 2 tariffs of 10%. The change was voted in favour 453 to 199 in the Commons , 159 to 111 in the House of Duchies and 268 to 195 in the Imperial Senate. The motion was rushed in response to the crisis by the government. The government are expected to keep the tariff until a full resolution to the crisis has occurred.

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Firms compete on warranties as battle heats up
EAG and MG Kligenberg both introduced variations of a 10 year warranty today. Both companies currently offer 7 year warranties on core parts. MG will offer a 10 year warranty on all cars in their all brands Smart Car,Kligenberg, MG,Rover and X-On and their sports car brands. The European Automotive group have introduced 10 +10 warranty system. Each car will have a 10 year warranty on all core parts and any repairs including under warranty get a warranty of 10 years. This warranty scheme will cover the brands of Ora,VW, Cupra, Seat,TAC , Chamonix NG , Audi and Porsche who are under the umbrella or European Automotive Group Both warranties will require cars to be serviced at authorised dealers and repair shops .

VJLR are expected to introduce a 10 year warranty for Vauxhall, Jaguar, Land Rover, Bentley and Bowler in order to compete though its not known how part repairs will be covered.An increasing amount of firms are announcing 10 year warranties to get the Duchies Assured and Handcrafted in Duchies marks onto their products and product pages. The government said in a statement "This shows the confidence of Duchian companies and others in their products made here. We expect this scheme to work well in establishing a trusting relationship between consumers and companies for products made in Duchies and elsewhere." Miele are famous for their 20 years warranties if you arrange service through their technicians with many firms in Duchies opting to do this at higher price points.

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Unions demand 15% minimum wage hike for January
The United Alliance of Trade Unions has announced it is demanding a 15% minimum wage hike for all workers in January. The national minimum wage is due to be reviewed. The organisation says that growth in the economy per capita has already reached 10% from January to August with Corporate pofit margins projected to rise 20%. The unions argue those who do most of the work to make those profits should get their fair share. The Unions have threatened a general strike if the government do no comply. Elements of the PSD and The Left have backed this call.

Critics oppose the unions saying a wage would damage the economy.The UoD said in a statement "The labour cartel and union champagne socialist bosses are once again holding the economy and citizens to ransom. We must resist this and call on the government to break the power of this unelected cartel over the economy. "

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Government agree 15% national minimum wage increase
Today the government of the United Duchies agreed with The United Alliance of Trade Unions a 15% national minimum wage increase for January 2024 with a minimum increase of 10% or inflation whichever is higher in 2025 in the round of negotiation. The Unions had been threatening a general strike which would have resulted in up to 87% of workers walking out stalling the economy. The Union have been accused by the UoD of "acting as a cartel and holding hostage the economy against businessmen for workers interests." TUATU defended their actions saying "We acted to prevent the rise of wealth inequality and ensure a fair share of economic growth goes to the members of our member unions."

The deal will bring the minimum wage up from 18 Dux Libra(27.90 Euros ) per hour to 20.70 Dux Libra( 32.09 Euros) per Hour with an increase to a minimum of 22.77(35.30 Euros) Dux Libra per hour in 2025. The wage increase will be one of the largest average increases and will have to go into effect across all Duchies or Duchy Equivlent Areas including Irmgardis City.