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.
On 21 June 1999, the temporary employment agency Adecco Personaldienstleistungen GmbH and a bargaining cartel of six trade unions signed a "collective agreement on the hiring-out of labour on the occasion of the EXPO 2000 world exhibition" (Tarifvertrag zur Arbeitnehmerüberlassung anläßlich der Weltausstellung EXPO 2000).The unions involved were the IG Metall metalworkers' union, the Food and Restaurants Workers' Union (Gewerkschaft Nahrung Genuß Gaststätten, NGG), the Building, Agriculture and Environmental Union (IG Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt), the Trading, Banking and Insurance Union (Gewerkschaft Handel Banken und Versicherungen, HBV), the Public Services, Transport and Traffic Union (Gewerkschaft Öffentliche Dienste, Transport und Verkehr, ÖTV) and the German White-Collar Workers' Union (Deutsche Angestellten-Gewerkschaft, DAG) The agreement will cover approximately about 7,000 employees who will be recruited by Adecco in order to work at the EXPO 2000 exhibition, which will take place in Hanover from 1 June until 31 October 2000. Adecco is the exclusive provider of personnel services to EXPO 2000 Hannover GmbH, the company which is responsible for the overall organisation of the world exhibition.
The new "EXPO 2000 collective agreement", which was negotiated mainly by the IG Metall district organisation in Hanover, is valid from 1 January until 31 December 1999. It contains comprehensive provisions on pay and working conditions for all Adecco employees who will be hired out to work at the exhibition. According to the agreement, all the newly created jobs have to be subject to social security and the recruitment process should favour, in particular, long-term unemployed people.
Regarding remuneration, the agreement provides for seven different pay grades, varying from DEM 13.50 to DEM 14.50 per hour for the lowest grade and DEM 25.00 to DEM 26.00 for the highest grade (see the table below). Originally, the trade unions had demanded an "EXPO minimum wage" of DEM 15.00 per hour, which was accepted by Adecco but was rejected by EXPO 2000 Hannover GmbH. The latter did not sit at the bargaining table but nevertheless, as the exclusive customer of the temporary work agency, had an important influence on the agreement.
The agreement determines that the regular working time for all employees will be a 35-hour week. Weekly working time can be extended by another five hours without paying overtime premia. From the 41st to the 45th hour, employees will receive an overtime premium of 25%, which will be further increased to 30% from the 46th weekly working hour. All employees will have a working time account in which they collect their overtime hours, which will be compensated later by additional days off, preferably at the end of the employment period. Since EXPO 2000 will be open seven days a week, the agreement provides that employees should usually work five days a week and that that they must have at least one Sunday free of work each month.
The EXPO 2000 agreement covers various other issues, including provisions on holidays, continued remuneration in the case of sickness, work clothes and subsidies for fares. Another notable point of the agreement is that it includes provisions for the creation of a special representation body for the employees. Since all new employment contracts are limited to the five-month period of EXPO 2000, there is no legal obligation to create a works council under the Works Constitution Act (Betriebsverfassungsgesetz). However, the agreement provides that Adecco will hire four employees recommended by the unions, who will organise the representation of the employees' interests.
Since the overwhelming majority of temporary agency work in Germany is not covered by collective agreements (DE9711138F), the EXPO agreement is very exceptional. However, both bargaining parties have pointed out that the agreement might also constitute an important step towards a multi-employer agreement for temporary agency work in the future.
Pay grades laid down in the EXPO 2000 collective agreement
| No. 1 | Kitchen help, dishwasher, cloakroom attendant, warehouse person, toilet attendant | DEM 13.50 | DEM 14.50 |
| No. 2 | Bar staff, persons making coffee, courier, buffet attendant | DEM 14.50 | DEM 15.50 |
| No. 3 | Driver, cashier, junior host | DEM 16.00 | DEM 17.00 |
| No. 4 | Senior host, official in charge, seller | DEM 18.00 | DEM 20.00 |
| No. 5 | VIP host, team leader (for smaller groups) | DEM 21.00 | DEM 22.00 |
| No. 6 | Interpreter, team leader (for larger groups), person who looks after a pavilion | DEM 23.00 | DEM 24.00 |
| No. 7 | Supervisor, manager of a pavilion, technician | DEM 25.00 | DEM 26.00 |
Source: IG Metall Hanover district.