IG Medien survey on working time: what union members want

More than 60% of IG Medien members see further working time reduction as a necessary tool to fight unemployment, according to a survey conducted by the media trade union in September 1997.

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.

On 12 November 1997, IG Medien presented the results of its survey which is based on more than 30,000 replies (a response rate of 20%) to the questionnaire. The overall result was that: 62% of IG Medien members see further working time reduction as an important tool to fight unemployment; 25% see working time reduction as "less important"; while only 13% think that further working time reduction is a wrong approach. Regarding the different sectors covered by IG Medien, the support for further working time reductions is particularly high among journalists while workers in printing and paper processing seems to be a little more sceptical. However, nearly 90% of those questioned think that working time reduction should be combined with binding promises on the side of the employers to create new jobs.

As other studies have shown, the support for working time reduction is usually closely related to its implications for wage policy (DE9709127F). Some 53% of IG Medien members declare that for them further working time reduction and further wage increases are equal goals. Around 20% say that wage increases are more important, while 26% give priority to working time reduction. Among journalists and other media employees, 57% are ready to accept working time cuts without a full wage compensation. On the other hand, among blue-collar workers in printing and paper processing only 47% are prepared to waive their right to a wage increase in exchange for working time reduction.

Considering the different forms of working time reduction, the most popular among IG Medien members are the reduction of overtime (80%), the introduction of partial retirement (76%) and the promotion of part-time work (65%). On the other hand, only 41% see a reduction of weekly working time as being "important". The latter has probably to do with the fact that weekly working time reduction might be associated with a further intensification of work. About 70% of those surveyed declare that their work has become more stressful during the last year. The table below sets out some of the findings of the IG Medien survey in this area.