Collective bargaining
Verdi is calling for eight percent more wages in the public sector
Poker high: Ulrich Silberbach (l.), chairman of the dbb civil service association, and Frank Werneke, chairman of Verdi, announce their demands for collective bargaining at a press conference in Berlin
© Annette Riedl / DPA
The Verdi union and the civil servants’ association are entering the upcoming collective bargaining negotiations for around 2.5 million people with high demands. There may be a threat of strikes.
The demands are ambitious, but by no means too high, said dbb boss Ulrich Silberbach. There is a shortage of half a million people in the public sector. There is a risk of losing out compared to the private sector.
Verdi represents numerous professional groups
Other demands include three additional days off for and another day off for union members. Employees should be able to use a working time account to decide whether they want to be paid overtime or whether it should be booked into the account. According to the unions, trainees should receive 200 euros more per month.
The unions negotiate for a number of professional sectors – including women and men who work as educators, bus drivers, pool employees, firefighters, nurses and geriatric nurses, administrative employees, sewage treatment plant employees, foresters or doctors. Around 2.5 million collective bargaining employees are affected, the majority of whom work in municipalities. The current collective agreement expires after two years at the end of the year.
After a period of twelve months, the unions want the income to be renegotiated. According to the demand, the desired degree should be transferred to civil servants at the same time and with the same content. Negotiations are held separately for state employees.
With their demand, Verdi and dbb are slightly higher than the demand for the wage round in the metal and electrical industry. IG Metall had demanded seven percent more money.
What employers offer is significantly lower
The president of the Association of Municipal Employers’ Associations (VKA), Gelsenkirchen’s mayor Karin Welge, had already brought into play a significantly smaller plus than now demanded. “Inflation will be around two percent, that is a benchmark that is on the table,” she said in the “Tagersspiegel”. She also referred to the strained municipal budgets. The VKA is negotiating together with the Federal Ministry of the Interior on behalf of the employers.
In the negotiations over the collective agreement that is now expiring, the unions achieved the largest wage increase in the public sector in decades in spring 2023. This was intended to cushion the drastic rise in consumer and energy prices at the time.
Last time, Verdi regularly shut down city administrations and pools. The unions entered into the negotiations two years ago with, among other things, a demand for an income increase of 10.5 percent. Ultimately, they agreed with the federal and local governments on tax- and duty-free special payments totaling 3,000 euros, a base amount of 200 euros and then 5.5 percent more. During the negotiations, Verdi regularly paralyzed city administrations, public pools, garbage disposals and hospitals with warning strikes.
Negotiations will begin on January 24th. Completion is scheduled for mid-March.