Municipal daycare workers and other employees in social professions can look forward to more money and free time. In the collective bargaining dispute between the municipal social and educational services, an agreement was reached late Wednesday evening: the Verdi union and the civil servants’ association dbb agreed with the municipal employers on additional days off and monthly allowances for the approximately 330,000 employees.
With the breakthrough, further warning strikes in the municipal public social and educational services were averted for the time being. Verdi wants its members to decide on the collective bargaining agreement in the coming weeks. However, it is considered very likely that the contract will be accepted. The agreement stipulates that the employees will initially receive two additional days off per year. In the future, they should also have the option of converting part of their salary into a maximum of two additional days off.
The option to convert money into days off refers specifically to a new allowance that employees are to receive from July: In addition to the additional days off, educators in the municipal public service will then receive an additional 130 euros a month. For social workers there will also be an additional 180 euros from July.
The time employees stay in one pay grade before moving up to the next is scheduled to be aligned with general public service grades as of October 1, 2024. This means that salaries will rise faster in the future than before.
The agreement was “successful despite considerable resistance from municipal employers,” said Verdi chairman Frank Werneke. It is “another significant step to make the professions in the social and educational system more attractive and to take effective action against the shortage of skilled workers”. The President of the Association of Municipal Employers’ Associations (VKA), Karin Welge, described the result as a “successful compromise” but also as a “challenge for municipal employers”. The VKA assumes that the personnel costs of municipal employers will increase by around 3.7 percent annually due to the new allowances alone.