The dispute over a new collective agreement for the nearly 900,000 construction workers is being extended. The ongoing arbitration between the two employers’ associations HDB and ZDB as well as the IG Bau trade union was postponed on Friday night with no result, as both sides announced. From the negotiating circles it was then said that although the structural cornerstones for a new collective agreement had been approached, “there is still a considerable need for discussion with regard to the price tags”. Now it is time for “a few days of reflection”. The talks under the leadership of the President of the Federal Social Court, Rainer Schlegel, as a mediator are now to be continued next Wednesday. If no solution can be found within a week, the first nationwide strike since 2002 is looming on the building site.
Both sides have been negotiating a new collective agreement since May. The crux of the matter is above all the demand by IG Bau for significantly higher compensation for the sometimes long journeys of the employees. According to a study commissioned by the union in the spring, a construction worker covers an average of 64 kilometers from home to the construction site. In addition, IG Bau is calling for a wage increase of 5.3 percent and the alignment of tariffs in East and West. The employers had submitted a tariff offer with a volume of three percent. “A nationwide construction strike is more likely than it has been in 20 years,” said IG Bau boss Robert Feiger before the arbitration began. “Without the employers really giving in, there will be no agreement with us this time.” In return, employer negotiator Uwe Nostitz had accused the union of spreading “fake news”.