Zagelmeyer, Stefan

On 24 November 1997, the general meeting of the peak employers' association (Vereinigung der Arbeitgeberverbände in Bayern, VAB) in the federal state (Land) of Bavaria decided to merge with the Bavarian peak trade association (Landesverband der Bayerischen Industrie, LBI). The new Landpeak association for Bavarian enterprises is called Vereinigung der Bayerischen Wirtschaft (VBW). On 17 December the constituent assembly of the VBW elected Erich Sennebogen as president.

In December 1997, the Federal Government agreed on a bill which includes a variety of measures to improve the social security provisions for flexible working time arrangements and to allow for easier application of the Partial Retirement Law (DE9710133F [1]). The new law came into effect on 1 January 1998. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/social-policies-undefined/pilot-agreement-on-partial-retirement-in-south-west-german-metalworking

According to the Federal Statistical Office (Statistisches Bundesamt), German real GDP grew at a rate of 2.2% in 1997. As regards the Maastricht convergence criteria, the budget deficit reached 2.7% of GDP, whereas public debt amounted to 61.3% of GDP. On average, unemployment stood at 11.4% of the civilian labour force - 9.8% in the west and 18.1% in the east. Inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, amounted to 1.8%.

Collective bargaining may be defined as a collective decision-making process between parties representing the interests of the employer(s) and the employee(s), whose purpose is the negotiation and continuous application of a jointly agreed set of rules to govern the substantive and procedural terms of the employment relationship.

On 11 November 1997, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued a judgment in case of Hellmut Marschall v Land Nordrhine-Westphalia (C-409/95) [1], according to which a national law which guarantees priority for women in promotions in the public sector in cases 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. [1] http://europa.eu.int/jurisp/cgi-bin/form.pl?lang=en&numaff=C-409/95&datefs=&datefe=&nomusuel=&domaine=&mots=&resmax=100&Submit=Submit

According to recently published information, the regional metalworking sector employers' association Nordmetall- which represents 350 enterprises in the German states of Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and is a member of the federal sectoral employers' association Gesamtmetall- has founded an employers' association called Arbeitgeberverband Norddeutschland which will neither conclude, nor be bound by, industry-level collective agreements.

On 22 May 1997, an "Employment Alliance" for eastern Germany was concluded between the German Federal Government, the German Trade Union Federation (DGB), the German Salaried Employees' Union (DAG), the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA), the Confederation of German Industries (BDI), the German Association of Chambers of Commerce (DIHT), the Central Association of German Crafts (ZDH) and the Associations of the Credit Institutions (Kreditgewerbe). The primary objectives of the pact were to speed up the transformation process of the eastern German economy, to boost growth, to reduce unit labour costs, to stabilise employment in 1997 at the level of 1996, and to create 100,000 new jobs in each of the following years. Among other measures to be executed by the state and the private sector, the "Joint initiative for more jobs in eastern Germany" provided for several guidelines regarding industrial relations in eastern Germany - such as employment-oriented collective bargaining, working time flexibility, "hardship clauses" and special regulations for small and medium-sized enterprises (DE9706117F [1]). [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/labour-market-undefined/tripartite-agreement-on-employment-alliance-for-eastern-germany

On 11 November 1997, the first Senate of the German Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht, BAG) ruled that the monitoring of works councils by a company's data protection officer is inadmissible (Decision 1 ABR 21/97 of 11 November 1997).

On 3 October 1997, the industrial group, Siemens, announced that management and works council at its medical technology unit in Erlangen had concluded a framework works agreement on flexible working time. As a consequence, Siemens will invest roughly DEM 200 million and build a new centre. Local government has promised be to supportive. The background to the agreement is an expected loss of about DEM 170 million at the Siemens medical technology unit for the business year ending 30 September 1997.

On 25 August 1997, the information technology company, Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG (SNI), a subsidiary of the German electronic and technology conglomerate Siemens AG, announced the reorganisation of its loss-making product service division. It confirmed the setting up of five new service companies named Sinitec Service für Informationssysteme GmbH (SINITEC) in Hamburg, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich.