Schulten, Thorsten
Doorn groupholds fifth annual meeting
25 Oktoober 2001
On 6-7 September 2001, nearly 50 leading representatives of trade unions from
Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands met in Houffalize (Belgium)
for the fifth annual joint meeting of the 'Doorn group'. As well as major
sectoral unions, the participants represented the major national
confederations, as follows:
New collective agreements signed for cinemas
09 Oktoober 2001
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 [1] (Manteltarifvertrag)
for employees working in cinemas.
[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/efemiredictionary/framework-agreement-on-employment-conditions
Employees accept pay cuts at Hewlett Packard
27 August 2001
At the beginning of July 2001, the management of the German subsidiary of the
US-based computer and printer multinational Hewlett-Packard (HP) send a
letter to each of its 5,700 regular employees, in which it asked them to join
voluntary cost-saving measures aimed at helping the company to manage its
current downturn in revenues and profits. The initiative is part of a global
campaign launched by the HP headquarters in Palo Alto, California, calling on
its 90,000 or so employees worldwide to participate in a global "voluntary
payroll savings programme". Under this programme, all employees have been
asked to choose one of four options:
Government adopts draft bill on reform of Works Constitution Act
27 Märts 2001
On 14 February 2001, the cabinet of the German federal government adopted a
draft bill [1] on reform of the Works Constitution [2] Act
(Betriebsverfassungsgesetz, BetrVG) - the law which determines the legal
framework for co-determination at the level of the establishment [3] in the
private sector, through works council [4] s. The government's bill will now
pass through the legislative process, and it is planned that parliament will
adopt the new BetrVG before summer 2001, so that the next works council
elections in spring 2002 may be held under the provisions of the new Act.
[1] http://www.bma.de/download/gesetzesentwuerfe/GesetzentwurfEndfassung.pdf
[2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/efemiredictionary/works-constitution-0
[3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/efemiredictionary/co-determination-rights-of-the-works-council
[4] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/efemiredictionary/works-council-2
Collectively agreed pay up 2.4% in 2000
27 Veebruar 2001
According to the WSI Collective Agreement Archive's recently published annual
report [1] on the 2000 collective bargaining round in Germany, trade unions
affiliated to the German Federation of Trade Unions (Deutscher
Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB) concluded new collective pay agreements for some 18.4
million employees during the year. Initially, the unions demanded total
increases of between 4% and 5.5%, including both pay rises and financial
contributions to new arrangements for partial and early retirement
(DE0003243N [2]). After the employers' associations sharply rejected these
demands, the majority of the new pay agreements provided for pay rises of
between 2% and 3% in 2000 - see table 1 below for details. Many of the
sectoral pay agreements run for two years and determine the pay rises in
2001, which will be between 2% and 2.5% under the majority of the agreements.
[1] http://www.boeckler.de/ebib/volltexte/Tarifpolitische_Halb-_Jahresberichte-2
[2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/overview-of-trade-union-demands-for-2000-bargaining-round
Trade unions criticise employers over increased overtime working
27 Jaanuar 2001
At the beginning of January 2001, the Federal Employment Service
(Bundesanstalt für Arbeit, BfA) announced that about 1.85 billion paid
overtime hours were worked in Germany in 2000. Compared with the previous
year, this represented an increase of 61 million paid overtime hours, leading
to the highest number of annual overtime hours since 1995 - see table below.
On average, each German employee worked about 61 hours of paid overtime in
2000.
2000 Annual Review for Germany
27 Detsember 2000
Since the most recent general election in September 1998, the German federal
government has been composed of a "red-green" coalition comprising the Social
Democratic Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, SPD) and Alliance
90/The Greens (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen). The coalition parties were
confronted with considerable political difficulties in 1999 - including
losses in almost all important regional elections - but regained a much
stronger political position in 2000. This was partly the result of
far-reaching financial scandals within the main opposition party, the
Christian Democratic Party (Christlich Demokratische Union, CDU) which
thereby underwent a deep political crisis. Against this background, the
red-green parties won the two major regional elections in 2000, in the
federal states of Schleswig-Holstein and North-Rhine Westphalia.
HBV opt-out prompts trade union debate on national Alliance for Jobs
27 Detsember 2000
On 20-21 November 2000, at an extraordinary congress in Magdeburg, the
Commerce, Banking and Insurance Union (Gewerkschaft Handel, Banken und
Versicherungen, HBV) resolved to bring its participation in the national
tripartite Alliance for Jobs (DE9812286N [1]) to an end. A great majority of
the delegates at the HBV congress adopted a resolution stating that the
Alliance is "no longer seen as a suitable instrument for the promotion of
trade union goals." Therefore, HBV will "argue for a termination of the
Alliance within the forthcoming new Unified Service Sector Trade Union
(Vereinigte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft, Ver.di) (in which HBV is
participating, alongside four other unions - DE0012295N) and the German
Federation of Trade Unions (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB), as well as in
public debate."
[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/tripartite-agreement-establishes-national-alliance-for-jobs
IG Medien to opt out of national Alliance for Jobs
27 Oktoober 2000
On 8-9 September 2000, at an extraordinary congress in Bielefeld, the German
Media Trade Union (IG Medien) resolved to opt out of the national tripartite
Alliance for Jobs (DE9812286N [1]). A great majority of the delegates at the
IG Medien congress adopted a resolution [2], according to which the media
workers' union will "no longer participate in the Alliance's meetings and
working groups". Furthermore, IG Medien decided to "argue for an immediate
opt-out from the Alliance within the forthcoming new Unified Service Sector
Trade Union (Vereinigte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft, Ver.di) (DE9911225F) (in
which IG Medien is participating) and the German Federation of Trade Unions
(Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB), as well as in public" debate. IG Medien,
with about 179,000 members, is the smallest DGB-affiliated trade union and
the first union which has decided to pull out of the national Alliance.
[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/tripartite-agreement-establishes-national-alliance-for-jobs
[2] http://www.igmedien.de/news/meldungen/2000/091206.html
New company agreements signed at Volkswagen AG
27 Oktoober 2000
On 18 September 2000, the executive board of the German car producer
Volkswagen AG and the Lower-Saxony district organisation of the IG Metall
metalworkers' union signed new company agreements for the 100,000 or so
employees at the company's west German production locations. Volkswagen AG is
the only German car producer which is not covered by the branch-level
collective agreements for metalworking but has traditionally had a company
agreement.