DGB boss Yasmin Fahimi is counting on collective bargaining agreements for the new year that will noticeably relieve the financial burden on employees. In many places the pressure on the wallet is still great, Fahimi told the German Press Agency in Berlin.
“In the last 18 months, the unions in Germany across all sectors have succeeded in alleviating the great inflationary pressure with very good collective agreements,” said Fahimi. “I assume that the unions will also find appropriate and responsible conclusions in the collective bargaining negotiations in the new year.”
Twelve million employees affected under the DGB umbrella
According to the Economic and Social Sciences Institute of the union-affiliated Hans Böckler Foundation, collective agreements agreed by the DGB unions will expire by December 2024 for almost twelve million employees. The chemical industry’s collective agreement expires in June 2024. Collective bargaining is set to begin again in the metal and electrical industries in the fall.
In recent months, real wages could have been raised, not least through payments to compensate for inflation, according to Fahimi. “This makes economic sense, not least because it prevents purchasing power from collapsing in a difficult economic situation.” Inflation compensation payments totaling a total of 3,000 euros each were agreed for the public sector, chemicals, metal and electrical in 2023 and 2022.
“The popular fairy tale that our wage agreements may be an additional driver of inflation has been refuted.” All economists confirmed this – and this can also be clearly seen in the price increase rate, which has now fallen again.
Fahimi calls for implementation of the Collective Bargaining Act
“The real problem is that only one in two people is still protected by collective agreements,” said Fahimi. “Where this is not the case, there are sometimes immense losses of purchasing power.” There, the wage development does not correspond to the price increase – especially for income groups that are at the lower end.
Fahimi therefore insisted on the law on collective agreement compliance planned by Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD). Heil wants to implement the agreement in the coalition agreement, according to which only companies that adhere to collective agreements should be eligible for federal public contracts. “I appeal to the federal government to finally implement the Federal Tariff Compliance Act,” said Fahimi.
“That would be an important signal that public money will no longer be used to co-finance business models that contradict our understanding of social partnership.” More collective bargaining is about good working conditions. “If that doesn’t happen, politicians will increasingly be faced with the challenge of getting exploitative employment relationships under control,” warned the DGB leader. “And the economic damage caused by a lack of income tax, social security contributions and loss of purchasing power already amounts to 130 billion euros.”
