Schulten, Thorsten
Collective agreement on temporary agency work during EXPO 2000
27 Temmuz 1999
On 21 June 1999, the temporary employment agency Adecco
Personaldienstleistungen GmbH and a bargaining cartel of six trade unions
signed a "collective agreement on the hiring-out of labour on the occasion of
the EXPO 2000 world exhibition" (Tarifvertrag zur Arbeitnehmerüberlassung
anläßlich der Weltausstellung EXPO 2000 [1]).The unions involved were the
IG Metall metalworkers' union, the Food and Restaurants Workers' Union
(Gewerkschaft Nahrung Genuß Gaststätten, NGG), the Building, Agriculture
and Environmental Union (IG Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt), the Trading, Banking and
Insurance Union (Gewerkschaft Handel Banken und Versicherungen, HBV), the
Public Services, Transport and Traffic Union (Gewerkschaft Öffentliche
Dienste, Transport und Verkehr, ÖTV) and the German White-Collar Workers'
Union (Deutsche Angestellten-Gewerkschaft, DAG) The agreement will cover
approximately about 7,000 employees who will be recruited by Adecco in order
to work at the EXPO 2000 exhibition, which will take place in Hanover from 1
June until 31 October 2000. Adecco is the exclusive provider of personnel
services to EXPO 2000 Hannover GmbH, the company which is responsible for the
overall organisation of the world exhibition.
[1] http://www.igmetall.de/homepages/bezirk-hannover/expo-tarifvertrag.html
Opening clauses in chemicals agreements rarely used
27 Haziran 1999
On 5-6 February 1999, the Mining, Chemical and Energy Union (IG Bergbau
Chemie Energie, IG BCE) held a conference in Hanover, bringing together
around 270 local union members in order to evaluate recent developments in
German collective bargaining. The contributions to the conference, which were
subsequently published by the union, give a broad overview of the experiences
in IG BCE-related sectors (/Allgemeine Arbeitsbedingungen - tarifliche
Bindung oder betriebliche Gestaltung. Protokoll der Fachtagung in Hannover am
5/6 Februar 1999/, IG BCE (ed)).
New agreement signed in west German chemicals
27 Haziran 1999
On 1 June 1999, the Mining, Chemicals and Energy Union (Industriegewerkschaft
Bergbau,Chemie, Energie, IG BCE) and the German Federation of Chemicals
Employers' Associations (Bundesarbeitgeberverband Chemie, BAVC) signed a
pilot agreement for the collective bargaining district of Nordrhein. The new
agreement provides employees with a flat-rate payment of DEM 200 in respect
of May 1999 and a 3% increase in remuneration from June 1999. Vocational
trainees will receive no proportional wage increase, but a flat-rate payment
of DEM 200. The agreement runs for 13 months.
New regulation of bad-weather allowance
27 Haziran 1999
On 6 June 1999, in discussions chaired by the Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder,
the German federal government and the collective bargaining parties in the
construction industry - the German Building, Agriculture and Environmental
Union (IG Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt, IG BAU) and the employers' associations,
Hauptverband der Deutschen Bauindustrie (HDB) and Zentralverband des
Deutschen Baugewerbes (ZDB) - reached an agreement on the principles of a new
regulation of the bad-weather allowance (Schlechtwettergeld).
New agreement signed in printing industry
27 Mayıs 1999
On 6 May 1999 the Bundesverband Druck employers' association and the Media
and Printing Union (IG Medien) signed a new nationwide collective agreement
for blue-collar workers in the German printing industry. The new agreement
provides for a 3.3% increase in wages and vocational training payments from
April 1999, and has a duration of 12 months. Employees in lower wage groups
will receive a flat-rate payment of DEM 135 for the month of April 1999,
which is somewhat higher than the proportional wage increase of 3.3%.
Study reveals fall in bargaining coverage
27 Mayıs 1999
A recent study by the Cologne Institute of Business Research (Institut der
deutschen Wirtschaft Köln, IW) and the Institute for Employment Research
(Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung der Bundesanstalt für
Arbeit, IAB) published in May 1999 provides new figures on collective
bargaining coverage in Germany ("Tarifbindung im Wandel", S Kohaut and C
Schnabel, in /iw-trends/ 2/99). In contrast to previous analyses (DE9902196F
[1]), the new study covers all branches of the economy, including the public
sector, and for the first time it also examines the coverage rates of company
agreements.
[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined-industrial-relations/private-sector-collective-bargaining-coverage-analysed
Collective Agreement Act celebrates its 50th anniversary
27 Mayıs 1999
On 9 April 1999, the German Collective Agreement Act (Tarifvertragsgesetz
[1]) celebrated its 50th anniversary. The legislation was enacted on 9 April
1949 by the common Economic Council for the British and American occupation
zones of post-war Germany. Since the Act was adopted before the official
foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) there was a transition
period before it became valid for the whole territory of the FRG (including
the former French occupation zone) in 1953.
[1] http://www.boeckler.de/wsi/tarchiv/iwl/tvg.htm
Franco-German cooperation agreement between chemical workers' unions
27 Mayıs 1999
On 20 April 1999 the general secretary of the Chemical and Energy Workers'
Federation affiliated to France's CFDT trade union confederation
(Fédération Chimie-Énergie-CFDT, FCE-CFDT), Jacques Khéliff, and the
president of the German Mining, Chemical and Energy Union (IG Bergbau Chemie
Energie, IG BCE), Hubertus Schmoldt, signed a new "Franco-German cooperation
agreement". The two unions have long experience of bilateral cooperation,
which recently became very much intensified because of the announcement of
the merger of the German-based pharmaceuticals group, Hoechst, and its
French-owned counterpart, Rhône-Poulenc (FR9812146F [1]).
[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined/french-and-german-unions-respond-to-hoechstrhne-poulenc-merger
Jenoptik agreements provoke workforce protests
27 Nisan 1999
On 6 March 1999, the minority Christian Metalworkers' Union (Christliche
Gewerkschaft Metall, CGM) and the management of Jenoptik AG signed new
company agreements (Haustarifverträge) for about 800 employees at the
company's east German sites in Jena. Emerging from the old Carl Zeiss firm,
Jenoptik AG is today the largest east German technology corporation and
operates in the fields of clean systems, telecommunications and photonics
technologies. The new CGM company agreements supersede previous company
agreements concluded with IG Metall, the main metalworkers' trade union, in
1996, after the company had left the east German metalworking employers'
association and thereby refused to be covered by the relevant branch-level
collective agreements.
First joint pay agreement for blue- and white-collar workers in printing
27 Nisan 1999
In the light of modern work organisation in many industries, the traditional
distinction between blue-collar worker [1] s (Arbeiter) and white-collar
worker [2] s (Angestellte) is becoming more and more anachronistic. Although
the German trade unions have long argued for abolition of the distinction,
different pay agreements still exist for blue- and white-collar workers in
many collective bargaining areas. Of the "classic" manufacturing sectors,
only in the chemicals industry have joint pay agreements been concluded since
1988. In metalworking, a number of pioneering companies introduced joint pay
and grading systems some time ago - the machine-building company Vögele was
the first to sign a joint pay agreement in 1983 - but the sectoral bargaining
parties have been negotiating on the modernisation of pay and grading
structures since the early 1990s, without being able to conclude an agreement
so far.
[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/efemiredictionary/manual-worker-4
[2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/efemiredictionary/white-collar-worker-4