New collective agreements signed for cinemas

In August 2001, the ver.di trade union and HDF employers' association concluded new collective agreements for employees working in German cinemas. The new agreements have a long duration of between three and four years and provide for pay increases as well as measures such as working time reductions, revisions of the pay grading system, and increases in paid holidays.

On 10 August 2001, the Unified Service Sector Union (Vereinigte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft, ver.di) and the Association of German Cinemas (Hauptverband Deutscher Filmtheater, HDF) signed a new nationwide pay agreement and a new framework collective agreement (Manteltarifvertrag) for employees working in cinemas.

The new pay agreement has a duration of three years and provides for

• a 3% pay increase from 1 September 2001;

• a further 2% pay increase from 1 July 2002; and

• a further 2% pay increase from 1 July 2003.

The new collective framework agreement has a duration of four years and includes new provisions on a broad range of issues including working time, holidays, the pay grading system, annual bonuses, dismissal protection, overtime bonuses and fixed-term contracts. In detail, the new collective framework agreement provides for

• a gradual reduction of weekly working time from the current 40 hours to 39 hours from 1 January 2003 and to 38 hours from 1 January 2004, including full pay compensation for the hours cut;

• a gradual increase in collectively agreed holidays. For employees aged under 30 years, annual paid leave will increase from the current 23 days to 24 from 1 January 2003 and to 25 from 1 January 2004. For employees aged from 30 to 50, leave will increase from 24 days to 25 from 1 January 2003 and to 26 from 1 January 2004. For employees over 50, leave will increase from 25 days to 26 from 1 January 2003 and to 28 from 1 January 2004;

• a revision of the location criteria (Ortskassenregelung) in the existing pay grading system. The 'location criteria' take into consideration the size of the cinema as well as the size of the city where the cinema is located. As a result, according to ver.di, the employees concerned by the change to the pay grading system will receive pay increases of between 5% and 10%;

• a gradual increase in the annual bonus from the current EUR 383 to EUR 511 in 2001, EUR 525 in 2002 and EUR 540 in 2003;

• the introduction of a new right to unpaid release from work of three to six months for vocational and further training. The right is limited to employees with a certain length of service with the same cinema company and can be rejected by the employer in the event of extraordinary reasons;

• a slight improvement in protection against dismissal for employees aged over 50 years, who will now enjoy such protection against dismissal for one month longer than other employees. The exact period of dismissal protection depends on the period the individual employee has worked for a certain employer;

• a new provision on overtime bonuses, whereby overtime bonuses for part-time employees will be paid only if they work longer than the collectively agreed standard weekly working time; and

• a new provision whereby up to 10% of employees can be employed on a fixed-term contract.

In a press release, ver.di called the last two provisions listed above 'its concession' to the employers. The union was also very sceptical about the long, three-year term of the pay agreement, but in the end was prepared to accept it, since otherwise the employers had threatened to reject the whole collective bargaining package. Both parties, however, agreed on a special clause whereby the union has the right to terminate the pay agreement in its third year in the event that living costs have increased by at least 3% over a period of six months.