Evidence from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy and Spain reveals that social partners are closely involved in setting up national strategies to manage digital change in the world of work. Up to now, this has been a high-level affair and there are only a few collective agreements or
On 4 July 2006, the Federal Government announced its framework for health care reform. It is the government’s intention to set out a long-term strategy that seeks to sever the link between wages and social insurance costs. However, the social partners disagree about the effects of the reform. Both
Results of a study on opening clauses in collective agreements (in German, 80 Kb PDF) [1] reveal that 13% of the companies surveyed have an opening clause in their agreement. Of these establishments, 52% made use of opening clauses in 2005. The companies preferred the use of opening clauses that
On 26 April 2006, the Association of German Economic Research Institutes (Arbeitsgemeinschaft deutscher wirtschaftswissenschaftlicher Forschungsinstitute e.V., ARGE [1]) published its semi-annual economic report (in German, 591Kb PDF) [2], which stated that Germany was experiencing an economic
On 22 April 2006, the employers’ association for the metalworking and electrical industry (Gesamtmetall) and the German Metalworkers’ Union (Industriegewerkschaft Metall, IG Metall) signed a new collective agreement (in German) [1] in North Rhine-Westphalia, containing measures that aim to foster
On 28 March 2006, the Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht, BAG [1]) finally approved the right of the Christian Metalworkers’ Union (Christliche Gewerkschaft Metall, CGM [2]) to conclude collective agreements (BAG press release (in German) [3]). Disputes over CGM’s trade union rights arose
On 6 March 2006, Ford announced that a company-level alliance aimed at safeguarding jobs had been reached; the agreement applies to Ford’s two German sites, in Cologne and Saarlouis. The agreement between management and the works council was presented to employees at extraordinary meetings, and
On 2 March 2006, the employees of SAP, Germany’s leading business software solutions and services company, held a staff meeting at which a proposal to initiate a works council election was discussed. An overwhelming majority of over 90% of the 5,600 employees who attended the meeting rejected this