Newspaper editors win pay rise after strike action

On 26 June 2011 the bargaining parties in the German printing industry agreed on measures covering pay and working time for some 160,000 employees. The agreement incorporates modest wage increases and an undertaking by employers to maintain the 35-hour working week until March 2014. A settlement covering some 14,000 editorial staff was finally reached on 18 August 2011 after more than a year of negotiations and dispute. Both agreements followed industrial action.

Agreement in the German printing industry

On 26 June 2011, the United Services Union (ver.di) and the German Printing and Media Industries Federation (BVDM) reached agreement over a new package of collective agreements on working time and pay, covering some 160,000 employees in the printing industry. The settlement followed a wave of warning strikes involving some 10,000 workers in 120 businesses.

The agreement, which lasts until 31 December 2013, provides for:

• a one-off payment of €200 for the period of April 2011 to July 2012, which will be paid in September 2011;

• a general pay increase of 2% with effect from 1 August 2012;

• an additional one-off payment of €150 in July 2013.

As in previous bargaining rounds, one highly contentious issue was the attempt by employers to revise the general framework agreement and in particular the standard 35-hour working week.

Employers wanted to allow for weekly working times to be extended to up to 40 hours, while ver.di insisted on maintaining the status quo. The unions won that argument and part of the final compromise was the reinstatement of the general framework agreement, which will remain in place as it is until 31 March 2014.

Newspaper editors reach settlement

Even more contentious than the printing industry negotiations was the 2010 bargaining round for newspaper editors and journalists.

On 18 August 2011 the German Federation of Journalists (DJV), the German Union of Journalists (dju) within ver.di and the Federation of German Newspaper Publishers (BDZV) signed new collective agreements covering some 14,000 editorial staff working on daily newspapers.

The settlement followed more than 12 months of negotiations and many instances of industrial action involving several thousand journalists at various newspapers. The compromise provides for a one-off payment of €200 for the period covering August 2010 to April 2012 which is to be paid in October 2011, a general pay increase of 1.5% from May 2012 and further one-off payment of €200 in February 2013. The pay agreement will remain in place until 31 July 2013.

Furthermore the parties agreed to reinstate the general framework agreement including the provisions on working time. This agreement will last until 31 December 2013.

The most contested issue in this bargaining round was the employers’ demand to substantially cut salaries for new entrants, which was defeated by the unions.

Both parties agreed to a new clause for 2012 and 2013 which allows management and works councils to agree on substantial cuts in both holiday pay and annual bonuses, of up to 50% of an employee’s monthly salary, in the event of economic difficulties. In exchange, they have to exclude the possibility of dismissals. Further cuts in pay may only be allowed if the unions and employers’ associations consent.

Both unions stressed that the compromise was a success because it ruled out any further demands, although they admitted the pay increases were disappointing. Publishers were disappointed that they had not achieved lower salaries for new entrants but were content with having obtained the clause about cuts mentioned above, and are now able to plan until the end of 2013.

Commentary

These bargaining rounds have to be viewed against a background of massive restructuring, both in printing and newspaper publishing. In both industries the unions have struggled for years to maintain earlier collectively agreed standards. The 35-hour week is of huge material and symbolic importance to print workers, while newspaper editors feel increasing pressure from the declining revenues of print journalism and the challenges of online publishing.

The attempt by employers to substantially cut the salaries of new entrants was considered by many as a major threat to the profession itself. This explained why so many journalists who had never been on strike before took part in industrial action. The comparatively modest pay increases, however, are an expression not only of the economic situation of the industries concerned but also of the limited structural bargaining power of both printers and editorial staff.

Heiner Dribbusch, Institute of Economic and Social Research, WSI