Germany
Background information on industrial relations in Germany
- 28 Dec 1997
Germany: Collective bargaining coverage in western Germany<#PDF_LINK>A recent empirical study by the Institute for Employment Research found that in 1995 collective bargaining covered 61.6% of western German establishments and 83.1% of western German employees. This article examines the study, its background and its implications.
- 28 Dec 1997
Germany: ECJ rules that law on priority for women in promotions conforms with Community law<#PDF_LINK>In November 1997, the European Court of Justice issued its judgment in the case ofHellmut Marschall v Land Northrhine-Westphalia, ruling that giving women priority in promotions in the public sector, where there are male and female candidates who are equally qualified for the post in question, does not conflict with Community law, provided that certain conditions are satisfied.
- 28 Dec 1997
Germany: New employers' association will not participate in industry-level bargaining<#PDF_LINK>According to information published in late 1997, the north German regional metalworking sector employers' association, Nordmetall, has founded a regional employers' association for northern Germany which will neither conclude nor be bound by industry-level collective agreements.
- 28 Dec 1997
Germany: Employment Alliance for eastern Germany misses employment target<#PDF_LINK>On 5 December 1997, the first review of the implementation of the "Employment Alliance" for eastern Germany, which was concluded in May 1997, showed that the employment target for 1997 had been missed. From November 1996 to November 1997, the average number of people in the labour force decreased by 187,000 to 6.2 million, whereas unemployment rose by 262,700.
- 28 Dec 1997
Germany: New proposals for a reform of collective bargaining in metalworking<#PDF_LINK>In November 1997, the collective bargaining parties in the German metalworking industry presented new documents on the future of branch-level collective agreements. While both parties agree in principle to the necessity of modernising the bargaining system, their proposed concepts are rather different. The Gesamtmetall employers' association emphasises a further decentralisation of collective bargaining, but IG Metall trade union wants to widen the scope of both branch-level and (additional) company bargaining.
- 28 Dec 1997
Germany: End of the 1997 bargaining round in the west German retail trade<#PDF_LINK>In November and December 1997, the collective bargaining parties in western Germany's retail trade agreed a 1.5% pay increase and secured 100% continued payment of remuneration in the event of illness.
- 28 Dec 1997
Germany: New collective agreements for journalists on daily newspapers<#PDF_LINK>A new collective agreement, signed in December 1997, cancels the previously agreed introduction of the 35-hour working week for journalists on Germany's daily newspapers.
- 28 Dec 1997
Germany: 1997 Annual Review for Germany<#PDF_LINK>This record reviews 1997's main developments in industrial relations in Germany.
- 28 Nov 1997
Germany: Employment with temporary work agencies in Germany<#PDF_LINK>In autumn 1997, Germany's DGB trade union confederation published a report on employment with temporary work agencies in which it calls for legal restrictions and stricter regulations. This feature gives an overview of the development, legal background and industrial relations consequences of employment with temporary work agencies in Germany.
- 28 Nov 1997
Germany: Monitoring of works councils by data protection officer ruled inadmissible<#PDF_LINK>On 11 November 1997, the German Federal Labour Court ruled that the monitoring of works councils by a company's data protection officer is inadmissible.
- 28 Nov 1997
Germany: Recent debates on pay policy in Germany<#PDF_LINK>In autumn 1997, several debates on pay policy are taking place in Germany, overshadowed by persistent mass unemployment. There are at least two main questions which dominate discussions among the collective bargaining parties as well as among politicians and economic experts: has the very moderate pay policy of recent years really had positive effects on employment and should it, therefore, be continued in the future? And should Germany extend its low-wage sector in order to create more employment?
- 28 Nov 1997
Germany: Food industry social partners declare support for branch-level agreements<#PDF_LINK>In November 1997, the collective bargaining parties in the German food industry presented a joint declaration on the future of branch-level collective agreements.
- 28 Nov 1997
Germany: Christmas bonuses in 1997<#PDF_LINK>According to figures from the WSI research institute, about five million employees had to accept cuts in their collectively agreed Christmas bonus in 1997.
- 28 Nov 1997
Germany: IG Medien survey on working time: what union members want<#PDF_LINK>More than 60% of IG Medien members see further working time reduction as a necessary tool to fight unemployment, according to a survey conducted by the media trade union in September 1997.
- 28 Oct 1997
Germany: Pilot agreement on partial retirement in south-west German metalworking<#PDF_LINK>On 28 September 1997, the social partners in the Nordwürttemberg-Nordbaden metalworking industry reached an agreement on the contentious topic of partial retirement. This agreement is expected to become the pilot agreement for the whole of German metalworking and for other industries.
- 28 Oct 1997
Germany: Agreement on working time flexibility at Siemens<#PDF_LINK>On 3 October 1997, the Siemens industrial group announced that it had concluded a framework works agreement on flexible working time at its German medical technology unit, which secures investment and preserves jobs.
- 28 Oct 1997
Germany: A wave of trade union mergers<#PDF_LINK>October 1997 saw a wave of trade union mergers in Germany, reducing the number of affiliates of the DGB confederation from 15 to 11 unions. The mining, leather and chemicals workers' unions have founded a new joint union, while the textiles and clothing workers' union and the union for workers in wood and plastics have decided to integrate themselves into the metalworkers' union, IG Metall. Furthermore, six unions in the service sector have signed a joint declaration pointing out the need for further restructuring among union organisations, which may finally lead to further mergers.
- 28 Oct 1997
Germany: New collective agreement in the west German steel industry<#PDF_LINK>In October 1997, the collective bargaining parties in the west German steel industry agreed a 2.6% increase of wages and salaries.
- 28 Oct 1997
Germany: Union extends its protests against proposed new postal law<#PDF_LINK>More than 43,000 German postal workers participated in a central demonstration in October 1997, organised by the DPG trade union as part of its protests against the proposed new postal law.
- 28 Sep 1997
Germany: Debate on working time: What workers want<#PDF_LINK>In July 1997, Dieter Schulte, chair of Germany's DGB union confederation, called the 25-hour working week a "concrete utopia" and thus made the reduction of the weekly working hours to 25 hours an issue in the working time debate. However, a representative survey published in August 1997 indicates that just 33% of all employees in Germany and 19% of full-time employees wish to work fewer than 35 hours per week.
- 28 Sep 1997
Germany: No increase in weekly hours in Siemens Nixdorf reorganisation<#PDF_LINK>On 25 August 1997, Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG (SNI) announced the reorganisation of its loss-making product service division and confirmed the setting up of five new service companies, named Sinitec Service für Informationssysteme GmbH. Originally, SNI intended to increase weekly working time at the new companies from 35 to 40 hours without compensation. However, an agreement signed on 1 September 1997 by employees' representatives and SNI management ensures that the current industry agreements will cover the new companies until 30 April 1998.
- 28 Sep 1997
Germany: Interim review of 1996/7 bargaining on continued payment of remuneration in case of illness<#PDF_LINK>On 1 October 1996 the new version of the Act on Continued Payment of Wages and Salaries and the resulting reduction of the statutory level of continued payment of remuneration in case of illness from 100% to 80% of the previous income came into force. Subsequently, this issue became subject to collective bargaining all over Germany. A recent analysis of private sector collective agreements concluded so far in the 1996-7 bargaining round shows that in all but a negligible number of case, the trade unions were able to enforce 100% continued payment, though in the majority of cases the unions made concessions to the employers' side.
- 28 Sep 1997
Germany: Collective agreement on the environment at Deutsche Telekom<#PDF_LINK>On 21 August 1997, Deutsche Telekom AG and the German Posts and Telecommunications Trade Union concluded a collective agreement to promote the management of environmental issues at Deutsche Telekom.
- 28 Sep 1997
Germany: Opening clauses increase in branch-level collective agreements<#PDF_LINK>Since the beginning of the 1990s, German branch-level collective bargaining has been under increasing pressure from employers demanding more company-specific regulations on working conditions. As a reaction, in recent years the social partners have concluded more and more "opening clauses" in branch-level collective agreements. These are the findings of a recently published study by the Institute for Economics and Social Science. By using an opening clause, some companies are able, to a certain extent, to diverge from collectively agreed standards. Overall, opening clauses lead to a further decentralisation of collective bargaining which, in the long term, could question the foundations of the Germany's traditional bargaining system.
- 28 Sep 1997
Germany: New government initiative to improve the number of training places<#PDF_LINK>In September 1997, the German Federal Government decided to favour those companies providing adequate numbers of training places when allocating public contracts.
- 28 Sep 1997
Germany: Collectively agreed pay increases have not exhausted the margin of distribution<#PDF_LINK>According to recent research, inflation and productivity have grown much faster than collectively agreed wages and salaries between 1994 and 1997.
- 28 Aug 1997
Germany: The erosion of employers' associations and industry-level bargaining in eastern Germany<#PDF_LINK>A new survey, published in June 1997, shows that in eastern Germany the "German Model" of industrial relations, characterised by its encompassing organisations on both sides of the labour market and its relatively centralised industry-level collective bargaining system, is in the process of erosion. The membership density of the traditional employers' associations is steadily declining, enterprises increasingly pay less than the collectively-agreed wages, and the locus of the collective bargaining system is continually shifting from the branch to the enterprise level.
- 28 Aug 1997
Germany: Federal Cartel Office challenges fair collective wages practices in Berlin<#PDF_LINK>On 12 August 1997, the German Federal Cartel Office informed the Berlin Senate that the practice whereby public sector contracts for projects such as road-building are given only to companies which declare that they pay wages according to the collectively agreed rates in Berlin, infringes the anti-discrimination provisions of the German cartel law.
- 28 Aug 1997
Germany: Collective agreements on partial retirement<#PDF_LINK>Partial retirement has become an important new issue in the 1997 German collective bargaining round. Provisions on partial retirement have been concluded in 11 branch-level collective agreements and several company agreements, covering nearly 2 million employees. However, recent negotiations on partial retirement in the metalworking industry were broken off before any conclusions had been reached.
- 28 Aug 1997
Germany: New proposals to modernise German industrial relations<#PDF_LINK>In August 1997, the German Machinery and Plant Manufacturers' Association and the IG Metall metalworkers' union presented a joint paper,For competitiveness and employment, which includes various proposals for a modernisation of the structure and content of German collective agreements.
- 28 Aug 1997
Germany: First company agreement on partial retirement in public services<#PDF_LINK>After the conclusion in August 1997 of a company agreement on partial retirement at a state-owned clearing bank in Baden-Württemberg, the Public Services, Transport and Traffic Union (ÖTV) now hopes to reach a nationwide collective agreement on partial retirement in Germany's public services in the forthcoming bargaining round.
- 28 Aug 1997
Germany: Preussen Elektra agreement cuts hours and creates jobs<#PDF_LINK>A company agreement signed in July 1997 at Preussen Elektra Corporation in Germany foresees the introduction of a 36-hour working week and the creation of 400 new jobs.
- 28 Aug 1997
Germany: Pact for improving competitiveness and safeguarding production sites at Ravensburger AG<#PDF_LINK>A "Pact for improving competitiveness and safeguarding production sites" recently introduced at the German games manufacturer, Ravensburger AG, foresees an unpaid two-hour extension of working time from the collectively agreed 36-hour week to a 38-hour week.
- 28 Jul 1997
Germany: Civil service law reform comes into force on 1 July 1997<#PDF_LINK>On 1 July 1997, the Act on Civil Service Law Reform came into force in Germany. It seeks to support the competitive principle in the public sector employment relationship, establish more flexible and performance-oriented remuneration systems, and increase the motivation and mobility of public sector employees. The implementation of the civil service law reform and further plans to reform public sector industrial relations have been accompanied by heavy trade union resistance.
- 28 Jul 1997
Germany: Federal Labour Court issues 1996 annual report<#PDF_LINK>The annual report of Germany's Federal Labour Court for 1996 shows that the number of incoming cases increased to 2,118, while the number of resolved cases increased to 2,225.
- 28 Jul 1997
Germany: Digital Equipment applies metalworking sectoral pay agreement<#PDF_LINK>In July 1997, the German subsidiary of the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and the IG Metall trade union signed a company agreement which provides for the Bavarian metalworking sector collective pay agreement to be applied to all DEC employees in Germany.
- 28 Jul 1997
Germany: Downward wage flexibility agreed for the German construction industry<#PDF_LINK>On 15 July 1997, the bargaining parties in the construction industry concluded a collective agreement for eastern Germany containing an "opening clause" on wages to save jobs, which allows companies to reduce the collectively agreed wage by up to 10%. On the next day, the bargaining parties agreed on a reduction in the minimum wage from 1 September 1997.
- 28 Jul 1997
Germany: New company agreement signed at Volkswagen AG<#PDF_LINK>In June 1997, the collective bargaining parties at Volkswagen signed a new company agreement which provides for moderate wage increases, the introduction of new profit-related bonus payments and, for the first time, a provision on partial retirement.
- 28 Jul 1997
Germany: Extension of working time without wage compensation at Continental AG<#PDF_LINK>A new works agreement signed in July 1997 at Continental AG foresees an increase in the working week from 37.5 hours to 38.75, without wage compensation.
- 28 Jul 1997
Germany: New IG Metall initiative to improve trade union cooperation in Europe<#PDF_LINK>In June 1997, IG Metall launched a regional exchange on collective bargaining policy with metalworking unions from neighbouring European states.
- 28 Jun 1997
Germany: Protection against rationalisation agreed for Allied Forces' civilian employees<#PDF_LINK>On 25 April 1997, after 27 days of strike action, the ÖTV, IG Metall, IG Medien, NGG and DAG trade unions and the German Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Allied Forces, struck a collective agreement on protection against rationalisation for civilian employees at the Allied Forces in Germany. Here, we outline the main characteristics of industrial relations for civilian employees at the Allied Forces in Germany and report on the major results of the negotiations.
- 28 Jun 1997
Germany: Tripartite agreement on Employment Alliance for eastern Germany<#PDF_LINK>On 22 May 1997, the Federal Government, trade and employers' associations, and trade unions agreed on an "Employment Alliance" entitled theJoint initiative for more jobs in eastern Germany. Here, we outline the contents of the programme and the reactions of the social partners.
- 28 Jun 1997
Germany: European campaign week against flags of convenience leads to 32 agreements in German ports<#PDF_LINK>Between 12 May and 16 May 1997, transport trade unions throughout Europe organised boycotts, strikes and demonstrations as part of the European action week against flag of convenience (FOC) shipping. FOC ships were checked in all German ports, and a total of 32 agreements were made between the International Transport Workers' Federation and ship-owners in German ports.
- 28 Jun 1997
Germany: Pilot collective agreement for Northrhine-Westphalia hard-coal mining<#PDF_LINK>On 21 May 1997, the miners' trade union, IGBE, the salaried employees' union, DAG, and the UVR employers' association struck a pilot collective agreement for the hard-coal mining industry in Northrhine-Westphalia.
- 28 Jun 1997
Germany: Metalworking's first agreement on partial retirement signed at PPS Salzgitter<#PDF_LINK>On 3 March 1997, the Hanover regional branch of the metalworkers' trade union, IG Metall, and the management of PPS Salzgitter concluded the first collective agreement on partial retirement in the metalworking industry.
- 28 Jun 1997
Germany: Teachers' union delegates topple chair<#PDF_LINK>On 26 May 1997, for the first time in the history of the German Trade Union Federation, DGB, a member union voted out its chair. In the election for the chair of the GEW teachers' union, Dieter Wunder failed to obtain an absolute majority of delegates' votes in the first ballot. Subsequently, he withdrew his candidacy for the second ballot, where Eva-Maria Stange was elected new chair of the GEW.
- 28 Jun 1997
Germany: The 1997 collective bargaining round in the German construction industry<#PDF_LINK>After more than two months of negotiations in the German construction industry, the collective bargaining parties found a compromise on most of the issues in April/May 1997. The social partners agreed to a 1.3% wage increase and the introduction of 100% continued payment of remuneration from the fourth day of sickness. In compensation for the latter, a cut in Christmas and holiday bonuses was concluded. The social partners also finally reached a new agreement on bad weather allowances.
- 28 Jun 1997
Germany: A Copernican U-turn in German collective bargaining?<#PDF_LINK>In June 1997, the collective bargaining parties in the west German chemicals industry agreed for the first time to a general "opening clause" on wages, which, under certain circumstances, allows companies to reduce the collectively agreed wage by up to 10% for a limited period of time.
- 28 Jun 1997
Germany: Campaign for social standards among German global players<#PDF_LINK>The Critical Shareholders group has launched a 1997 campaign seeking the observation of global social standards by German transnational corporations.
- 28 Jun 1997
Germany: Report examines collectively agreed holidays and holiday bonuses in 1997<#PDF_LINK>In 1997, significant differences persist in collectively agreed holiday bonuses between various sectors, as well as between western and eastern Germany, according to recent research by the Institute for Economics and Social Science
- 28 Jun 1997
Germany: New collective agreements signed in west German banking<#PDF_LINK>At the end of May 1997, the collective bargaining parties in the west German banking sector concluded new agreements on pay increases, continued payment in the case of illness and partial retirement
- 28 Jun 1997
Germany: New works agreement seeks to save production sites and employment at Bayer AG<#PDF_LINK>A new works agreement at Bayer, signed in June 1997, guarantees employment in return for further cuts in labour costs.
- 28 May 1997
Germany: Non-wage labour costs in Germany reach new record high<#PDF_LINK>A recent analysis by the Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft shows that non-wage labour costs in Germany reached a new record high in 1996. From 1972 to 1996, the ratio of non-wage labour costs to direct compensation in west German manufacturing industry rose from 55.6% to 80.7%. The topic of non-wage labour costs is increasingly being discussed among and between the social partners and the major political parties.
- 28 May 1997
Germany: Rehabilitation pact renewed at Deutz<#PDF_LINK>On 6 May 1997, the German machinery and tractor makerDeutz AGpublicised information on the employees' contribution to a rescue package agreed in 1996, and a package deal onImprovement of results, growth and employmentwhich was recently signed by Deutz and its group works council.
- 28 May 1997
Germany: Two-tier wage system established at Volkswagen<#PDF_LINK>On 30 April 1997, Volkswagen announced the creation of several hundred temporary jobs. According to an agreement between the company and the IG Metall trade union, the new temporary staff, although being hired on the terms of the current company agreements, will be paid 10% less than core employees. This agreement establishes a two-tier wage system at Volkswagen.
- 28 May 1997
Germany: Pact for partnership 1997 at Mohn printing shop<#PDF_LINK>In April 1997, management and the works council at Mohn GmbH signed a works agreement, the so-called "Pact for partnership 1997", which includes an unpaid increase in working time and a reduction in wages and salaries, in order to secure jobs at the Mohn printing works.
- 28 May 1997
Germany: Tripartite agreement on Employment Alliance for eastern Germany<#PDF_LINK>On 22 May 1997, Federal Government, trade and employers' associations, and trade unions agreed on an employment alliance known as theJoint initiative for more jobs in eastern Germany.
- 28 May 1997
Germany: New union for employees of international and European organisations<#PDF_LINK>The German trade unions,ÖTVandDAG, announced in April 1997 the establishment of a joint subsidiary union for the employees of international and European organisations. The newInternational Public Servants Organisation(IPSO) should become active in international and European organisations which are located in Germany, such as theEuropean Monetary Instituteor theEuropean Patent Office.
- 28 May 1997
Germany: German law contravenes the EU equal treatment Directive<#PDF_LINK>The European Court of Justice ruled in April 1997 that some provisions of German civil and labour law do not correspond with the EU Directive on equal treatment for men and woman.
- 28 May 1997
Germany: New collective agreements in the Saxon metalworking industry<#PDF_LINK>The social partners in the Saxon metalworking industry signed new collective agreements in April 1997, which include moderate wage increases and a new agreement to secure employment.
- 28 May 1997
Germany: Pact for partnership 1997 at Mohn printing shop<#PDF_LINK>In April 1997, management and the works council at Mohn GmbH signed a works agreement, the so-called "Pact for partnership 1997", which includes an unpaid increase in working time and a reduction in wages and salaries, in order to secure jobs at the Mohn printing works.
- 28 Apr 1997
Germany: Training occupations system to be modernised<#PDF_LINK>On 16 April 1997, the German federal minister for education presented a programme entitledReform project vocational training - flexible structures and modern occupations. One of the core elements of the project is the modernisation of the system of officially recognised "training occupations". Central to the German dual system of vocational training, these occupations are in a constant process of adjustment to the changing requirements of the labour market. Here we outline the basic features and recent trends in the training occupations system.
- 28 Apr 1997
Germany: 1996 solidarity pact in the chemical industry proves successful<#PDF_LINK>In April 1997, the social partners in the German chemical industry reviewed the implementation of their 1996 "solidarity pact", and their assessment is favourable. Employers have stuck to their commitment to maintain employment levels, while agreement's provisions on part-time work for older workers are becoming more significant. This feature summarises the review, and outlines recent bargaining events in the chemical industry.
- 28 Apr 1997
Germany: New-style package agreed at Deutsche Telekom AG<#PDF_LINK>On 9 April 1997, Deutsche Telekom AG and the Deutsche Postgewerkschaft trade union signed a package of new-style collective agreements for the employees at the DeTeMobil mobile telphones subsidiary.
- 28 Apr 1997
Germany: Industrial conflict settled at Lufthansa<#PDF_LINK>On 9 April 1997, Deutsche Lufthansa, the Union for Public Services, Transport and Communication (ÖTV) and the German Salaried Employees' Union (DAG) agreed a package of agreements, which ended months of industrial action.
- 28 Apr 1997
Germany: Krupp-Hoesch/Thyssen merger intensifies debate on future of German stakeholder capitalism<#PDF_LINK>In mid-March 1997, the German steel producer Krupp-Hoesch announced plans for a hostile takeover of its main competitor, Thyssen. After spontaneous protests by employees fearing job losses, and extensive critical reactions from the public, both groups started talks about a possible merger. They finally agreed to merge their steel production in a new joint corporation which was established on 1 April 1997. In a joint agreement with the IG Metall trade union, both companies agreed to carry out the planned reduction of the workforce at the new steel company without redundancies. However, the announcement of a hostile takeover in Germany is still rather exceptional and led to broad debate on the role of the banks in the German economy. In particular, unions were very much afraid that Germany could follow the "Anglo-Saxon" model of "shareholder capitalism".
- 28 Apr 1997
Germany: IG Metall leader proposes a 32-hour week<#PDF_LINK>At the "Employment Summit" organised by the DGB union confederation in April 1997, the president of the IG Metall metalworking union, Klaus Zwickel, proposed a general reduction of working time to 32 hours per week. The proposal led to a highly controversial debate on future working time policy. Employers sharply reject the proposal, claiming that Germany already has one of the shortest working weeks in the world.
- 28 Apr 1997
Germany: New works agreement to secure investment at Ford Germany<#PDF_LINK>In a new works agreement at Ford Germany, signed in April 1997, the company works council has agreed to a reduction of "payments above contract wages", while the management board has given assurances of new investments in Germany.
- 28 Apr 1997
Germany: Volkswagen gives up on internal temporary employment agency<#PDF_LINK>In April 1997, after opposition from the company works council and the IG Metall metalworkers' union, Volkswagen gave up its plans to create a new internal temporary employment agency, whose employees would be paid below the rate of the Volkswagen company agreement.
- 28 Mar 1997
Germany: Employers dissatisfied with regulations on social plans<#PDF_LINK>The legal regulations governing the "social plan", a special form of redundancy programme, have become a controversial topic in Germany in recent years but, up until now, empirical data on the issue have been scarce. However, a recent study indicates that two-thirds of the enterprises that have concluded a social plan consider the regulations to be inadequate. One-quarter go so far as demanding the abolition of the obligation to reach an agreement on a social plan. This article introduces the legal background, summarises the key points of the study and comments on the findings.
- 28 Mar 1997
Germany: Miners' revolt ends in "corporatist" compromise<#PDF_LINK>The German Federal Government's plan to cut subsidies for hard coal recently led to a "revolt" among miners. After more than a year of negotiations on how to finance German hard-coal mining in the future, and one week of angry protests by the miners, the Federal Government, the governments of the states ofNorth Rhine-WestphaliaandSaarland, the miners' union, IG Bergbau und Energie, and the two mining companies Ruhrkohle AG and Saarbergwerke AG agreed on a" coal compromise" (Kohlekompromiß). The agreement comprises subsidies of DEM 68 billion up to the year 2005, on condition of a reorganisation of the mining industry.
- 28 Mar 1997
Germany: Employment alliance signed at Mercedes Benz<#PDF_LINK>On 27 February 1997, a company-wide "employment alliance" was signed at Mercedes Benz, aimed at boosting competitiveness and maintaining jobs in the group's German operations.
- 28 Mar 1997
Germany: Regional employers' association in the building industry quits peak associations<#PDF_LINK>On 19 March 1997, the Berlin and Brandenburg regional building industry employers' association decided to leave the industry's two peak associations and its centralised collective bargaining system.
- 28 Mar 1997
Germany: The use of "hardship clauses" in the east German metalworking industry<#PDF_LINK>In 1993, employers' associations and theIG Metalltrade union signed a collective agreement for the east German metalworking industry, which for the first time included a general "hardship clause". Under certain conditions, this allows companies with immense economic problems to pay their employees below the minimum wage set by the collective agreement for a limited period of time. More than 180 companies have since requested recognition of a "case of hardship" and in about 100 cases the social partners have agreed to use the hardship clause. The publication of a recent study on the practical results of hardship clauses to date has opened a debate on whether or not such hardship clauses should be introduced into west German collective agreements.
- 28 Mar 1997
Germany: Joint union membership for German and UK workers<#PDF_LINK>A unique agreement on joint trade union membership was signed in March 1997 by the British GMB and the German IG Chemie-Papier-Keramik.
- 28 Feb 1997
Germany: Only one firm in five has a works council<#PDF_LINK>German works councils are often thought of as operating in all firms that exceed the basic workforce size threshold established by law. However, despite their extensive legal powers and their importance for labour relations in Germany, not much is known about the incidence of works councils and the size distribution of firms having a works council. Two recent representative, large-scale studies show that only about one-fifth of firms covered by the legislation do have a works council, though these account for the lion's share of employment.
- 28 Feb 1997
Germany: Union opposes end of postal delivery monopoly<#PDF_LINK>In February 1997, the German postal workers' union organised disruptive actions and demonstrations in opposition to the liberalisation of the postal service proposed by the coalition Government.
- 28 Feb 1997
Germany: Low wages in a high-wage economy<#PDF_LINK>Although widely regarded as as a high-wage economy, Germany has a significant low-wage sector. According to different definitions inequitable pay, between 2.18 million and 7.20 million full-time employees could be characterised as "working poor". Low wages are primarily found in the services industries with a predominately female workforce.
- 28 Feb 1997
Germany: Bargaining in 1996 - from the Employment Alliance to the sick pay dispute<#PDF_LINK>Collective bargaining in Germany in 1996 was overshadowed by the failure of the tripartite initiative for an "Employment Alliance". Nevertheless, collective agreements provided for relatively moderate pay increases between 1.3% and 2%, and a wide range of measures to secure employment. Following a major political dispute on sick pay, most collective agreements eventually secured sick pay at 100%, in exchange for a reduction in annual bonus payments.
- 28 Feb 1997
Germany: Basic pay up 2.3% in western Germany in 1996<#PDF_LINK>According to recent research, collectively-agreed basic wages and salaries in western Germany increased by an average of about 2.3% in 1996
- 28 Feb 1997
Germany: New collective agreements in printing<#PDF_LINK>Under a new collective agreement, wages for 130,000 manual workers in the German printing industry will increase by about 1.5% in 1997.