Vogel, Sandra

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 upturn since the beginning of 2006. According to the report, forecasts predict an increase of German gross domestic product (GDP) by 1.8% in 2006 and 1.2% in 2007. Germany’s economic recovery is expected to ease some of the problems that are currently affecting the country’s labour market. The number of unemployed people is expected to decrease from 4,580,000 persons (10.6%) in 2006 to 4,440,000 (10.2%) in 2007. On 11 May 2006, the German Federal Statistical Office (Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland, Destatis [3]) confirmed in a statement to the press (in German) [4] that the country’s GDP increased by 0.4% in the first quarter of 2006 compared with the last quarter in 2005. According to Destatis, rising private consumption expenditure and higher gross fixed capital formation have led to the economic upturn. The Cologne Institute for Economic Research (Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln, IW [5]) estimated in its spring forecast (in German, 171Kb PDF) [6] that the labour force would increase by 240,000 people in 2006. [1] http://www.arge-institute.de [2] http://www.diw.de/deutsch/dasinstitut/docs/GD_FJ_2006_ARGE_komplett_oSp.pdf [3] http://www.destatis.de/ [4] http://www.destatis.de/presse/deutsch/pm2006/p2000121.htm [5] http://www.iwkoeln.de/ [6] http://www.iwkoeln.de/data/pdf/pub/pm16_06iwd.pdf

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 continuous training. While employer organisations [2] and trade unions [3] disagree on whether collective agreements on continuous vocational training [4] are necessary, recent studies reveal that the impact of such policies is quite insignificant. [1] http://www.gesamtmetall.de/Gesamtmetall/MEOnline.nsf/c31231b8c4ee15bcc12569f2004efcfb/60cd43b741c3099ec12571590041dce0!OpenDocument [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/employer-organisations [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/trade-unions [4] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/vocational-training

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 after it had concluded several collective agreements on pay and working hours with employer organisations [4] in the metalworking industry. As these agreements competed with those negotiated by the German Metalworkers’ Union (Industriegewerkschaft Metall, IG Metall [5]), the latter appealed to the labour court. The BAG judgement brought a 10-year period of litigation to an end. [1] http://www.bundesarbeitsgericht.de/ [2] http://www.cgm.de/ [3] http://juris.bundesarbeitsgericht.de/cgi-bin/rechtsprechung/document.py?Gericht=bag&Art=pm&sid=27fa62566ec1254159825762abd98e1e&nr=10933&pos=0&anz=1 [4] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/employer-organisations [5] http://www.igmetall.de/

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 proposal. Only 506 workers voted for the election procedure to take place. The ballot result triggered intense debate about whether the establishment of a works council at SAP [1] should be enforced by a court ruling or, alternatively, whether the Works Constitution Act (/Betriebsverfassungsgesetz/) needs to be amended so that it can deal with cases such as this. On 14 March 2006, the employee representatives on the supervisory board of SAP eventually decided to organise a works council election themselves. [1] http://www.sap.com/germany/index.epx

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 involves a promise by the company not to undertake collective dismissals until 2011 in return for wage concessions by employees. The deal covers 18,500 employees in Cologne and 6,400 employees in Saarlouis. In November 2005, Ford declared that 1,200 employees in Germany were to be made redundant by the end of 2005. Dismissals could, however, be avoided if employees took voluntary redundancy; any such workers would receive financial remuneration.