Schulten, Thorsten

In September 1997, the media workers' trade union IG Medien conducted a survey on working time and employment among its members. IG Medien, which organises workers in the printing industry and paper processing as well as journalists, writers, artists and actors, sent out a questionnaire to more than 160,000 members asking for their positions on further working time reduction. The questionnaire was accompanied by a letter from the president of IG Medien, Detlef Hensche, in which he expressed the need for an open debate on future working time policy within the union.

In autumn 1997, the German Posts and Telecommunications Trade Union DPG (Deutsche Postgewerkschaft) extended its protests against the Government's draft of a new postal law. On 23 September, DPG called for extra works meetings (Betriebsversammlungen) to inform the 300,000 or so employees of Deutsche Post AG- the privatised successor of the former state post service - about the possible social consequences of the new law. On 8 October, more than 43,000 postal workers responded to the DPG's initiative for a central demonstration against the new postal law in Bonn, accompanied by various protest actions at regional level.

On 20 October 1997, the IG Metall metalworkers trade union and the German Steel Employers' Association (Arbeitgeberverband Stahl) signed a new collective agreement for the 90,000 employees of the west German steel industry in Northrhine-Westphalia (NRW), Lower-Saxony and Bremen. The new agreement, which has a relatively long duration of 17 months, provides for:

On 9 September 1997, the German Federal Government took the decision to favour those companies which provide sufficient training places when allocating public contracts. In the event that companies submit equal tenders for public contracts those companies which have a sufficient number of apprenticeship places will get the order . The Federal Minister of Education, Science, Research and Technology, Jürgen Rüttgers, expressed his hopes that other regional and local governments will follow that decision. As early as in July 1997, the Bavaria n State Government declared it would favour companies providing training in the allocation of public contracts

Traditionally, the results of German collective bargaining have always been very close to the "margin of distribution" (Verteilungsspielraum) - that is, the increase in inflation plus the increase in productivity. The idea of "margin of distribution" was developed from the concept of the "social market economy" (soziale Marktwirtschaft), which should lead to an equal participation in the development of economic wealth among employers and employees. However, according to a recent study by the Institute for Economics and Social Science (Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliches Institut, WSI), inflation and productivity have grown much faster than collectively agreed wages and salaries in recent years.

In July 1997, a new company agreement was concluded for the 11,000 or so employees of the German energy corporation, Preussen Elektra, by the Public Services, Transport and Traffic Union (Gewerkschaft Öffentliche Dienste, Transport und Verkehr, ÖTV), the chemical workers' union, IG Chemie, and the employers' association for the energy sector (Arbeitgebervereinigung energiewirtschaftlicher Unternehmen). The agreement runs for two years until 31 October 1999.

On 28 May 1997 the management at Ravensburger AG, one of Germany's most important producers of games, with about 1,250 employees, presented its workforce with a document called the "Pact for improving competitiveness and safeguarding production sites" (Bündnis zur Stärkung der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit und Standortsicherung). The core of this document is the company's plan to extend weekly working time from 36 to 38 hours without any wage compensation for the employees. In return the company promises that no redundancies will be made until the end of 2000. Furthermore, Ravensburger plans to introduce a new profitsharing system, whereby the employees will receive an annual bonus of between DEM 850 and DEM 2,600 depending on the company's economic performance.

On 11 August 1997, the Public Services, Transport and Traffic Union (Gewerkschaft Öffentliche Dienste, Transport und Verkehr, ÖTV) and the regional public employers' association Kommunaler Arbeitgeberverband Baden-Württemberg concluded an agreement on partial retirement (Altersteilzeit) for the state-owned clearing bank Landesgirokasse Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart. Partial retirement has become an important new issue in 1997 German collective bargaining (DE9708224F [1]) and the new Landesgirokasse deal is the first company agreement on partial retirement in the public sector. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/social-policies-undefined/collective-agreements-on-partial-retirement

On 24 June 1997 the recent collective bargaining round at the leading German motor company Volkswagen (VW) ended with the conclusion of a new company agreement. Volkswagen is one of the very few large German corporations in the metalworking sector which, traditionally, are not covered by branch-level collective bargaining, but have always concluded their own company agreements. The negotiations for the about 95,000 VW employees take place between VW management and the regional office of the IG Metall metalworkers' union in Lower Saxony, where most of the six west German VW plants are located.

On 1 July 1997 Germany's largest car-tyre manufacturer, Continental AG, announced the conclusion of a new works agreement [1] for its tyre production plant in Hannover-Stöcken. The new works agreement, which affects about 2,700 employees at the Stöcken site, foresees a sharp reduction in labour costs mainly through: [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/efemiredictionary/works-agreement-0