More money for the employees of the federal states: Their wages will increase by 2.8 percent from December 2022. They will also receive a tax-free corona payment of 1,300 euros at the beginning of next year. The federal states and unions agreed on this after tough negotiations on Monday morning in Potsdam. The qualification, including retirees, is expected to be valid for more than three million people, including nurses, teachers, police officers and day-care center teachers.
“That is a largely respectable result,” said Verdi boss Frank Werneke. “It brings tangible income improvements for a number of healthcare workers.” The unions had particularly pushed for wage increases for nurses and other health workers, which the corona pandemic has put a heavy burden on. There has been an emergency in nursing for a long time, said Verdi boss Frank Werneke. The pandemic makes everything much worse. At the university clinics with up to 150,000 employees, from nurses to cleaning staff, the people are “at the limit”.
Health workers now receive higher allowances in addition to the general wage increase. For example, the intensive care and infection allowance at the university clinics increases from 90 to 150 euros. Verdi calculates that the collective wage agreement for an intensive care carer brings an average of 230 euros more income per month. For a physiotherapist it is more than 180 euros. In addition, there is the one-time corona payment of 1300 euros.
The Verdi union and the DBB civil servants’ association originally demanded five percent more wages for all employees for one year. Those who earn little should get at least 150 euros more. In health care it should be at least 300 euros more. Employers had repeatedly rejected this as unrealistic and referred to their tight financial position.
The old collective agreement expired at the end of September. The degree is valid for the more than one million employees in the federal states. In addition, it is to be transferred to more than two million civil servants and pensioners. The salaries of trainees and interns will be increased from December 2022 by 50 euros or by 70 euros in the healthcare sector. The collective agreement has a term of 24 months.
The tariff agreement can be compared with two previous agreements. In Hesse there was already a result in October. The federal state has left the collective bargaining union of the federal states and is negotiating alone with the unions. In Hesse, incomes will rise in two steps by a total of four percent in 2022 and 2023. There is a special payment of 500 euros each for the current and coming year.
An agreement was reached last year for the more than two million federal and municipal employees. Accordingly, wages will rise by 3.2 percent in two stages in 2021 and 2022. With low incomes it is more. Nursing staff receive a total of almost nine percent more.
One point of contention is the classification
The current negotiations for the federal states were accompanied by a dispute about the future of work. The unions warned that in view of the demographic development there is a risk of staff running out if the working conditions are not made more attractive. “The iron savings commissioners of the federal states have no plan for a competitive and thus sustainable public service,” said Ulrich Silberbach, the head of the civil servants’ union.
The negotiations were blocked for a long time by a dispute over collective bargaining groups. The federal states want to loosen the fixed grouping in certain wage groups. Employees should be deployed flexibly, depending on the tasks involved. In some cases, the employees would earn less than before. Thousands of cases have already been disputed before labor courts.
The unions opposed a general change in classification. Your concern is that new hires in particular would earn less. After the categorization was not touched upon in the collective bargaining agreement for the federal government or in Hesse, the unions were not prepared to make any concessions. The employers now want to wait for the outcome of their lawsuit at the Federal Constitutional Court.