Germany
Background information on industrial relations in Germany
- 28 Dec 1999
Germany: Innovative package of agreements to safeguard production sites at Sartorius AG<#PDF_LINK>In October 1999, an innovative package of company and works agreements was signed at the filtration and weighing products manufacturer, Sartorius AG, which aims to secure jobs and safeguard facilities at its central manufacturing location in Göttingen, Germany.
- 28 Dec 1999
Germany: Business representatives demand a return to the 40-hour week<#PDF_LINK>In December 1999, several representatives of German business and employers' associations demanded a return to the 40-hour working week in order to improve competitiveness and create more jobs. In 1999, average collectively agreed working time was 37.5 hours in western Germany and 39.2 hours in eastern Germany.
- 28 Dec 1999
Germany: 1999 Annual Review for GERMANY<#PDF_LINK>This record reviews 1999's main developments in industrial relations in GERMANY
- 28 Dec 1999
Germany: Five-week site occupation at Alcatel in Berlin<#PDF_LINK>From 13 September to 17 October 1999, workers at the Alcatel Kabel AG data cable factory in Berlin, Germany, occupied the site in protest at management's decision to make 140 of the 170 workers at the plant redundant. The campaign involved numerous demonstrations in Berlin, in other parts of Germany, and at Alcatel headquarters in Paris, as well as visits from politicians, in the context of the Berlin communal elections. The occupation ended with the workers receiving a much improved "social plan" to accompany the redundancies, although the decision to make the workers redundant on 1 January 2000 remains unchanged.
- 28 Dec 1999
Germany: Studies relaunch debate on further liberalisation of shop opening hours<#PDF_LINK>In October 1999, the SFS Institute for Social Research and the Ifo Institute for Economic Research presented studies on the effects of longer shop opening hours in Germany. These studies were commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Labour and the Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology in order to identify the effects of the change in opening hours legislation in 1996 on the retail trade and customers on the one hand, and on employees and employment levels on the other. The government is expected to make proposals for a further liberalisation of shop hours on the basis of these findings. Despite negative results in terms of the development of turnover and employment, Ifo recommends a further extension of shop opening hours. In first reactions following the publication of the two studies, trade unions have stated clearly that they are against further liberalisation, while the main retail employers' association has moved to a position in line with Ifo's recommendations. Government, unions, the retailers' association and churches have unanimously declared that they are against any extension of shop opening hours on Sundays and public holidays.
- 28 Nov 1999
Germany: Vodafone's hostile takeover bid for Mannesmann highlights debate on the German capitalist model<#PDF_LINK>In November 1999, a hostile takeover bid from the British mobile phone group Vodafone AirTouch for Mannesmann led to a broad debate on the future of the German model of capitalism. German trade unions and the Mannesmann works councils strongly rejected Vodafone's bid, in order to defend the German culture of corporate governance which is based on strong employee involvement and co-determination. With the employees' viewpoint supported by almost all major political parties in Germany, Vodafone reacted to the criticism by saying that, after a takeover of Mannesmann, it would fully accept the German system of industrial relations and corporate governance.
- 28 Nov 1999
Germany: Union demands statutory minimum wage<#PDF_LINK>In October 1999, the German Food and Restaurant Workers' Union (NGG) renewed its demand for the introduction of a statutory minimum wage in order to prevent an increase in the numbers of "working poor" in Germany.
- 28 Nov 1999
Germany: German and Polish construction unions sign cooperation agreement<#PDF_LINK>In October 1999, construction workers' trade unions from Germany and Poland signed an agreement on closer political cooperation and mutual support for posted workers
- 28 Nov 1999
Germany: Unions demand coordination of bargaining and European social dialogue in scaffolding sector<#PDF_LINK>At its third European conference for the scaffolding sector, held in Germany in October 1999, the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers demanded closer European coordination of collective bargaining and the introduction of a European social dialogue in the sector.
- 28 Nov 1999
Germany: Verdi overture - five unions agree to form Unified Service Sector Union<#PDF_LINK>In November 1999, five German service sector trade unions agreed to merge and form Verdi, the United Service Sector Union, in spring 2001. Special congresses of all five unions adopted a joint framework paper which outlines the organisational structures of Verdi, which will be the world's largest single union.
- 28 Oct 1999
Germany: DGB celebrates its 50th anniversary<#PDF_LINK>In October 1999, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary , Germany's DGB trade union confederation organised a special event where the past and future role of the unions in Germany was discussed. There was a broad consensus that DGB played an important role in developing the particular economic and social order which has characterised Germany in the post-war years. During the 1990s, however, DGB has experienced an organisational crisis, the most obvious expression of which has been a dramatic fall in membership.
- 28 Oct 1999
Germany: IG Metall proposal for early retirement at 60 is strongly disputed<#PDF_LINK>In October 1999, the German metalworkers' union IG Metall and the Federal Ministry of Labour agreed in principle on a new concept for early retirement at the age of 60. Wanting to give older employees the opportunity for early retirement without loss of pension rights, IG Metall proposes the creation of a "collective bargaining fund" which would make additional contributions to the statutory pension scheme for workers who have taken early retirement. As the government has rejected making a direct financial contribution, the bargaining fund would be financed by employers and employees. Employers' associations, however, have already refused to participate in such a system.
- 28 Oct 1999
Germany: Unions demonstrate against statutory limits on civil service pay increases<#PDF_LINK>In October 1999, more than 60,000 employees in German public services demonstrated against government plans to limit pay increases for civil servants to the level of inflation for the coming two years.
- 28 Oct 1999
Germany: Gesamtmetall and IG Metall hold talks on Alliance for Jobs<#PDF_LINK>At the end of September 1999, representatives of the Gesamtmetall metalworking employers' association and the IG Metall metalworkers' trade union met to discuss the possible impact on their sector of the positions on collective bargaining within the national "Alliance for Jobs" taken by the DGB union confederation and BDA employers' confederation. So far the talks have shown no results, since both parties still have differing interpretations of the relevant positions.
- 28 Sep 1999
Germany: Dispute over extension of collective agreements in the building industry<#PDF_LINK>In August 1999, the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs issued a directive which declares new collectively agreed minimum wages for construction workers to be "generally binding" - ie applying also to non-organised and to foreign employees and employers in the industry. The Confederation of German Employers' Associations regards this move as unconstitutional, because it circumvents the traditional legal procedure for the extension of collective agreements.
- 28 Sep 1999
Germany: Personnel issues examined at Deutsche Bahn AG<#PDF_LINK>In September 1999, Germany's Deutsche Bahn (DB) railway company presented a report on the personnel and social issues which have arisen in the privatisation process since 1994. DB's substantial workforce reductions have been criticised by the rail workers' union GdED.
- 28 Sep 1999
Germany: Unions make positive assessment of transnational coordination of bargaining policy<#PDF_LINK>In September 1999, Belgian, Dutch, German and Luxembourg trade unions met in the German city of Haltern in order to evaluate their recent collective bargaining rounds. With average annual wage increase ranging from 2.6% to 3.1% in 1999, all the countries involved conformed to the bargaining guidelines set out in the unions' "Doorn declaration" in 1998.
- 28 Aug 1999
Germany: Trade union membership and density in the 1990s<#PDF_LINK>After an initial boost by German unification, aggregate trade union membership in Germany fell by almost 3.5 million between 1991 and 1998. Only one of the four main trade union organisations has been able to increase membership since 1991, while union density reached a record low of 32% in 1998.
- 28 Aug 1999
Germany: German Social Democracy and the third way: Is there a future for SPD-trade union relations?<#PDF_LINK>Since Germany's current "red-green" government came into office in autumn 1998, the relationship between the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the trade unions has been deteriorating continuously. This feature describes and discusses recent developments, focusing mainly on the June 1999 joint paper by the UK and German premiers, Tony Blair and Gerhard Schröder, entitled "Europe - The third way/Die neue Mitte" - and its implications for SPD- trade union relations.
- 28 Aug 1999
Germany: Court acknowledges unions' right to bring cases against companies accused of contravening collective agreements<#PDF_LINK>In July 1999, the German Federal Labour Court published a comprehensive statement setting out the reasons for its judgment of 20 April 1999 regarding the right of trade unions to bring cases against companies accused of contravening collective agreements. The background to this recent judgment is a growing number of establishment-level "employment pacts" which provide for the exchange of limited employment guarantees from employers for employees' concessions on payments and working conditions, with the latter often contravening collective agreements. While previously it was only individual employees who could bring such cases to court, the Federal Labour Court has now extended this right to trade unions.
- 28 Jul 1999
Germany: Interim report on 1999 collective bargaining round<#PDF_LINK>In July 1999, the WSI research institute presented an interim report on Germany's 1999 collective bargaining round. The study evaluates collective agreements concluded in the first half of 1999, affecting about two-thirds of all employees covered by an agreement. The average increase in wages and salaries will be around 3% in 1999, which is significantly higher than the average increase of only 1.8% in 1998.
- 28 Jul 1999
Germany: Collective agreement on temporary agency work during EXPO 2000<#PDF_LINK>In June 1999, a bargaining cartel of six trade unions and the Adecco temporary employment agency signed a collective agreement to cover the agency employees who will be working at the EXPO 2000 world exhibition in Hanover, Germany.
- 28 Jul 1999
Germany: Average income of manufacturing employees up 2.6% in 1998<#PDF_LINK>According to statistics released in July 1999 by the Federal Statistical Office, a full-time employee in German manufacturing earned an average of DEM 68,646 in 1998, which was 2.6% more than in the previous year.
- 28 Jul 1999
Germany: New developments within national Alliance for Jobs<#PDF_LINK>In July 1999, the third round of top-level talks between leading representatives of the government, trade unions and employers' associations took place within the framework of Germany's "Alliance for Jobs". All parties adopted a joint statement which defines common views on topics such as tax policy, vocational training, collective bargaining policy and partial and early retirement. In addition, the social partners' peak organisations, DGB and BDA, presented a joint declaration setting out a number of principles for the future development of collective bargaining. The reactions to the Alliance's new documents among trade unions and employers' associations, however, showed that on some points the two sides still have significantly differing points of view.
- 28 Jun 1999
Germany: Opening clauses in chemicals agreements rarely used<#PDF_LINK>In February 1999, Germany's IG BCE trade union held a conference on recent developments in collective bargaining. The event brought to light the fact that, so far, only very few companies have made use of "opening clauses" within the chemicals industry's sectoral collective agreements, allowing firms to deviate from the agreements' provisions in areas such as working time or pay.
- 28 Jun 1999
Germany: Worldwide union campaign accuses Continental of contravening international labour standards<#PDF_LINK>The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) has organised a global campaign against Germany's leading tyre producer, Continental, over a long-running strike at the company's General Tire plant at Charlotte (North Carolina, USA). The unions accuse Continental of contravening ILO standards and the OECD guidelines for multinational companies by permanently replacing striking employees at Charlotte with new recruits. In May 1999, representatives of the strikers' trade union, USWA, came to Germany to protest at the Continental annual shareholders' meeting. The Continental executive board, however, declared that the conflict is a local matter which can be resolved only at local level.
- 28 Jun 1999
Germany: New agreement signed in west German chemicals<#PDF_LINK>In June 1999, the collective bargaining parties in the west German chemicals industry agreed on a 3% increase in remuneration. The new agreement covers a term of 13 months.
- 28 Jun 1999
Germany: New regulation of bad-weather allowance<#PDF_LINK>In June 1999, the German federal government and the collective bargaining parties in the construction industry reached an agreement on the principles of a new regulation of the bad-weather allowance, in order to reduce the level of "winter unemployment" at building sites.
- 28 May 1999
Germany: The rise of regional employment alliances<#PDF_LINK>In spring 1999, almost all German federal states are covered by "regional alliances on employment" of some kind. This feature summarises developments and activities since the mid-1990s.
- 28 May 1999
Germany: New collective agreement signed at Volkswagen<#PDF_LINK>In April 1999, pay increases of 3.2% were agreed at Volkswagen in Germany, along with additional remuneration elements. However, the future of the company's 6,000 temporary employees was not resolved.
- 28 May 1999
Germany: New agreements concluded in construction<#PDF_LINK>In April 1999, the social partners in the German construction industry reached collective agreements on pay increases, changes in bonus payments, minimum wages and the establishment of collectively agreed pension funds.
- 28 May 1999
Germany: New collective agreements concluded at Deutsche Bahn<#PDF_LINK>In March and May 1999, a number of new collective agreements were agreed at the German railway company Deutsche Bahn (DB). Concern-level agreements signed in March cover a selected number of enterprises within DB and represent a first at the company. The May agreement increases pay by 3.1% from 1 September 1999 for all DB employees.
- 28 May 1999
Germany: Study reveals fall in bargaining coverage<#PDF_LINK>New representative data, published in May 1999, indicate that just two-thirds of employees in western Germany and one-half of those in eastern Germany were covered by sectoral collective agreements in 1998.
- 28 May 1999
Germany: Collective bargaining in the information technology sector<#PDF_LINK>Industrial relations and collective bargaining vary considerably within the German information technology sector, as research published in early 1999 confirms. A number of prominent companies are not bound by collective agreements with trade unions. Pay and working time regulations differ considerably between companies bound by traditional sectoral agreements and by those with firm-specific or individual agreements.
- 28 May 1999
Germany: Collective Agreement Act celebrates its 50th anniversary<#PDF_LINK>For 50 years the legal framework of German collective bargaining has been laid down by the Collective Agreement Act, which came into force in April 1949. Although the application of the Act has been developed by Labour Court decisions, its fundamental provisions remain unchanged. Changes in collective bargaining practice have shown that the Act is relatively flexible and allows many different types of bargaining. Most trade unions and employers are currently seeking a modernisation of the German bargaining system, but not a radical shift, and there are only a very few voices within the employers' camp who want fundamental changes in the Act.
- 28 May 1999
Germany: Franco-German cooperation agreement between chemical workers' unions<#PDF_LINK>In April 1999, the German Mining, Chemical and Energy Union (IG BCE) and the chemicals sector federation of the French CFDT trade union confederation signed an agreement which aims to intensify cooperation in the fields of general information exchange, European Works Councils, collective bargaining policy, joint training seminars, trade union youth policy and the development of European-level industrial relations.
- 28 May 1999
Germany: New agreement signed in printing industry<#PDF_LINK>In May 1999, the collective bargaining parties in the German printing industry signed a new collective agreement which provides for a 3.3% wage increase.
- 28 Apr 1999
Germany: Milestone collective agreement in public utilities<#PDF_LINK>In February 1999, the ÖTV and DAG trade unions reached a collective agreement with the municipal employers' association, VKA, covering public utilities, which is expected to act as a pilot for the modernisation of industrial relations in other areas of the public sector.
- 28 Apr 1999
Germany: Insurance sector agreement on partial retirement and additonal pension entitlements<#PDF_LINK>In March 1999, the social partners in the German insurance industry concluded a comprehensive collective agreement, which includes provisions on remuneration, partial retirement, maintenance of jobs, vocational training, working time flexibility and additional pension entitlements.
- 28 Apr 1999
Germany: Employers react negatively to metalworking agreement<#PDF_LINK>The new collective agreement for the German metalworking sector, signed in February 1999, has attracted adverse criticism from employers' organisations, and prompted a variety of reactions, including resignations and internal reorganisation and rules changes.
- 28 Apr 1999
Germany: Private waste-disposal agreement introduces entry wages 25% below the norm<#PDF_LINK>In February 1999, a new collective agreement for the private waste-disposal industry was signed by the ÖTV trade union and the BDE employers' organisation. A notable feature of the deal is that it introduces "entry wages" 25% below the collectively agreed standard rate.
- 28 Apr 1999
Germany: Jenoptik agreements provoke workforce protests<#PDF_LINK>In March 1999, Germany's small Christian Metalworkers' Union (CGM) concluded new company agreements at the Jenoptik technology company which supersede previous agreements signed by IG Metall, the main metalworkers' trade union. While Jenoptik management praised the new working time flexibility and performance-related payments brought by the agreements, IG Metall and a large majority of the workforce asked the company to cancel them.
- 28 Apr 1999
Germany: Western and eastern European metalworkers' unions establish interregional bargaining policy network<#PDF_LINK>In March 1999, metalworking trade unions from Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia adopted a joint memorandum on interregional collective bargaining policy. In the document, the unions declare their political will to prevent possible wage dumping strategies through closer coordination of bargaining in the countries involved. The initiative follows a recent resolution from the European Metalworkers' Federation, which aims to establish regional cross-border bargaining networks among its affiliates.
- 28 Apr 1999
Germany: First joint pay agreement for blue- and white-collar workers in printing<#PDF_LINK>In April 1999, Germany's IG Medien trade union and the printing company Rombach Druck GmbH signed a company agreement introducing a new grading system which abolishes the old distinction between blue- and white-collar workers.
- 28 Mar 1999
Germany: New agreements signed for public sector, Deutsche Post, Postbank and Deutsche Telecom<#PDF_LINK>February and March 1999 saw a new collective agreement for Germany's 3.2 million public sector employees, as well as deals at a number of recently privatised service companies - Deutsche Post, Postbank and Deutsche Telekom.
- 28 Mar 1999
Germany: Court sets stricter limits on coal, iron and steel co-determination<#PDF_LINK>On 2 March 1999, the Federal Constitutional Court decided that parts of the special regulations on co-determination in Germany's coal, iron and steel industries are unconstitutional. This feature explains the legal background, highlights the Mannesmann case which prompted the ruling, and comments on the significance of the decision.
- 28 Mar 1999
Germany: Volkswagen returns to three-shift system<#PDF_LINK>In January 1999, Volkswagen, the German motor manufacturer, announced a return to the "classic" three-shift production system, thus putting an end to the working time system introduced in 1994 in order to save employment and production locations in Germany.
- 28 Mar 1999
Germany: New forms of work organisation in Germany<#PDF_LINK>Since the beginning of the 1990s, Germany has seen an accelerated introduction of new forms of work organisation, as well as broad debates among employers and trade unions about the consequences for German industrial relations. However, in 1999 there is no homogeneous trend towards a single model of new work organisation but rather a great variety of organisational concepts. While some companies have experimented with relatively innovative "post-Tayloristic" forms of work organisation, other companies have introduced more conservative models with only small changes from the Tayloristic division of labour. Since the extent of new forms of work organisation in Germany is still far from being universal, there are currently also tendencies towards a "return to Taylor", resulting in a broader extension of "shareholder-value" concepts and a renewal of short-term thinking within management. Against this background, the reactions of both employers and unions to the European Commission's 1997 Green Paper "Partnership for a new organisation of work" were rather sceptical, as the Paper is seen as setting out a rather idealistic conception of new forms of work organisation.
- 28 Mar 1999
Germany: New collective agreements signed in metalworking<#PDF_LINK>In February 1999, the bargaining parties in the German metalworking sector signed new collective agreements for more than 3.2 million employees. The agreements basically provide for a 3.2% pay increase, plus a flat-rate payment of 1% of annual income. While the IG Metall metalworkers' trade union is to a large extent satisfied with the bargaining results, the employers see the costs of the new agreements as being much too high, and state they were accepted only in order to avoid a possible strike.
- 28 Mar 1999
Germany: DGB criticises European Commission's recommendations on pay policy<#PDF_LINK>In February 1999, Germany's DGB trade union confederation published an analysis of the European Commission's 1999 Annual Economic Report which, in particular, criticises the Commission's recommendations for a continuation of wage restraint.
- 28 Feb 1999
Germany: Private sector collective bargaining coverage analysed<#PDF_LINK>According to figures published at the end of 1998, industry-level collective bargaining covered 49.0% of private sector west German establishments and 25.7% of private sector east German establishments in 1997. In addition, the number of German companies which are subject solely to company agreements further increased to 5,369 in 1998, and has more than doubled since 1990.
- 28 Feb 1999
Germany: Regional alliance for jobs, training and competitiveness in Northrhine Westphalia<#PDF_LINK>In December 1998, the main regional associations of trade unions, industry and employers, together with the government of the German federal state of Northrhine-Westpahlia, forged a regional alliance for jobs, training and competitiveness.
- 28 Feb 1999
Germany: METRO social and employment standards to be maintained in transferred companies<#PDF_LINK>METRO AG, the German retail group, is selling off 250 companies as part of a reorganisation plan. In February 1999, following talks with trade unions and works councils, the management boards of METRO and DIVACO - the firm which is managing the disposal of the companies - reinforced and fleshed out a previous statement on the continuation of the METRO group's employment and social standards at DIVACO.
- 28 Feb 1999
Germany: Majority of works councillors unconvinced about decentralisation of bargaining<#PDF_LINK>Nearly three-quarters of German works and staff councillors consider that decentralisation of the current system of branch-level collective bargaining has either negative or ambiguous effects. Only 12% are in favour of further decentralisation. These are among the findings of a 1997/8 survey from the WSI research institute, published recently.
- 28 Feb 1999
Germany: Growing numbers of employment pacts at establishment level<#PDF_LINK>In recent years, Germany has seen a growing number of "employment pacts" concluded at establishment level between management and works council. According to a 1999 study from the Hans Böckler Foundation, these agreements show great variety in their content, scope and complexity. However, most agreements follow a similar basic pattern: while the employees make concessions on working conditions, the employers give limited job guarantees.
- 28 Feb 1999
Germany: IG BCE and employers adopt joint declaration on partnership and branch-level bargaining<#PDF_LINK>In February 1999, the German Mining, Chemicals and Energy Union (IG BCE) and 22 employers' associations expressed their support in principle for the German system of branch-level collective bargaining and for its further development.
- 28 Jan 1999
Germany: Employment security: the new big issue at establishment level<#PDF_LINK>In the 1990s, measures to secure employment have become an increasingly prominent topic for the bodies which represent employee interests at establishment level in Germany - works and staff councils. A recent survey by WSI documents this trend and shows that in winter 1997/8, agreements on employment security existed in 24% of private sector establishments covered by works councils and in 12% of public sector establishments covered by staff councils.
- 28 Jan 1999
Germany: Pirelli returns to 40-hour working week<#PDF_LINK>In December 1998, a works agreement was concluded at the tyre company Pirelli Germany, which includes a return to a 40-hour working week from 1 January 1999.
- 28 Jan 1999
Germany: Agreement individualises working time decisions at IBM<#PDF_LINK>In December 1998 in Germany, IBM Informationssysteme GmbH and the DAG trade union concluded a company collective agreement which individualises the working time decisions of employees.
- 28 Jan 1999
Germany: Court rejects IG Metall case against Christian Metalworkers' Union<#PDF_LINK>In December 1998, the federal state Labour Court in Stuttgart, Germany, rejected a case brought by the IG Metall metalworkers' union against the Christian Metalworkers' Union (CGM), in which it demanded that the Court deprive CGM of the right to conclude collective agreements.
- 28 Jan 1999
Germany: Unions demand creation of new jobs through reduction of overtime<#PDF_LINK>Given that about 1.8 billion paid overtime hours were worked in Germany in 1998 - according to figures released in January 1999 - trade unions estimate that a substantial reduction of overtime could create about 400,000 new jobs.
- 28 Jan 1999
Germany: Unions seek right to bring cases against employers contravening agreements<#PDF_LINK>With a growing number of German employers reportedly contravening valid collective agreements, in January 1999 the trade unions renewed their demand for an "association-level right" for unions to take these employers to the Labour Court.
- 28 Jan 1999
Germany: Labour law amendments come into force<#PDF_LINK>From 1 January 1999, a package of labour law amendments came into force in Germany, largely arising from the wish of the new "red-green" coalition government to revoke some of the more controversial changes introduced by its conservative-liberal predecessor. The amendments concern continued payment in the event of sickness, dismissal protection and regulations on posted workers.