At the fourth round of bargaining on Saturday in Potsdam, the parties to the collective bargaining agreement agreed to accept a previous arbitration recommendation without any significant changes. The collective bargaining agreement initially provides for a gradual payment of inflation compensation totaling 3,000 euros from June. From March next year, salaries will increase by a basic amount of 200 euros and then by 5.5 percent – but there will be at least 340 euros more monthly. Trainee and intern salaries will be increased by 150 euros at this time.
The term should be 24 months retrospectively from January. According to Verdi boss Frank Werneke, this is the “biggest wage increase in post-war history in the public sector”.
Essen’s Lord Mayor Thomas Kufen (CDU), who is also Chairman of the North Rhine-Westphalia City Council, considers the collective bargaining agreement for the municipalities to be a compromise that is just about feasible. Kufen told the “Rheinische Post” on Monday that the implementation of the agreement would be “a tour de force” for the cities in North Rhine-Westphalia. But there is now planning security for this and the coming year. Kufen put the costs for municipal employers in NRW alone at around 2.8 billion euros.
Overall, the President of the Association of Municipal Employers’ Associations (VKA), Karin Welge, assumes additional costs for cities and municipalities of 17 billion euros over the entire term.
