Germans fear EU economic drain
By Stephanie Halasz
CNN Berlin Bureau Chief
 |  Electronics giant Siemens has faced disputes with labor unions before. |
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 Concerns over German economy
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BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Twice a day, laundry is sent out for washing from a Berlin hotel -- but the sheets don't stay in Berlin. They go all the way to Poland, to be washed there and returned within 24 hours.
This is to ensure the best price for high quality -- but at the cost of not employing Germans.
When the European Union expands from 15 to 25 countries, it will include Poland -- Germany's eastern neighbor -- something that leaves Germans uneasy.
A recent opinion poll indicated 82 percent of Germans believe labor from Eastern Europe will flood the country, and 68 percent think unemployment and crime will increase.
Berlin bricklayer Rolf Lukas, whose small company is already struggling in the German economic slump, worries cheap labor will flood the market -- even though Poles, Czechs and Slovaks will still need permits to work in Germany.
"They used to need permits but they got around that. They will still find ways and means to avoid them," Lukas says. "And there will be a massive illegal labor market here."
Companies are reacting already. Electronics giant Siemens is threatening to move several thousand jobs eastward if German labor unions don't agree to longer hours with no pay raise.
Ludwig Georg Braun, president of the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), is all for moving labor to Eastern Europe.
He's been called "unpatriotic" by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who is desperately trying to fight jobs from leaving.
"The fear that people have in this country is a result that they do not know enough about the possibilities of international activity," says Braun.
"They have forgotten that we are all used to an Audi car with a motor that comes from Hungary and they still believe that is a German car."
While German authorities fight illegal labor with police checks on work permits, many Germans remain wary of expanding the EU.
The country with the longest border to the new member states believes opening it will prompt an economic drain.
