1997's collective bargaining in the private sector is concentrating on three main issues: 100% wage compensation during maternity leave; further negotiations over the pension scheme initiated in 1991; and a limited wage increase to allow for inflation. The social partners in the different bargaining

On 21 February 1997, theMinistry of Finance and the Danish Central Federation of State Employees (CFU) signed a new collective agreement for the period 1997-9, covering 225,000 government employees. The parties agreed on a total 4.25% increase, of which 2.9% is to be allocated for a general pay rise

In the Works Constitution [1] Act (Betriebsverfassungsgesetz) of 1972, works councils [2] in Germany are given extensive rights of information, consultation and co-determination [3]. The employer has to provide the works council with both timely and comprehensive information on all matters related

As the legislation regulating the postal delivery monopoly will expire by the end of 1997, on 18 February Germany's governing coalition parties proposed a new law which would limit the exclusive licence of Deutsche Post AG, the national postal service, to handling letters weighting under 100g, and

Compared to many other western industrialised countries, Germany has the image of being a high-wage economy with a relatively low inequality of incomes and living standards. This is mainly the result of the German system of branch-level central collective bargaining (Flächentarifvertrag), where

The Institute for Economics and Social Science (Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliches Institut, WSI) has recently published its annual examination of the previous collective bargaining round. It paints a rather mixed picture of 1996, a year in which collective bargaining was overshadowed by

According to a recent analysis by the Institute for Economics and Social Science (Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliches Institut, WSI) basic wages and salaries in western Germany grew on average by about 2.3% in 1996. Thus, pay increased by about 0.8 percentage points above the inflation rate

On 6 February 1997, the Bundesverband Druck employers' association and the Industriegewerkschaft Medien trade union signed two new nationwide collective agreements for the 130,000 manual workers in the German printing industry. The first agreement covers the general developments of wages, and the