2023-11-06 21:52:57
If employers do not pay wages in accordance with their tariff, this not only harms the affected employees. The state is also suffering – to the tune of billions.
Berlin.
According to a DGB analysis, the state is losing billions in revenue due to employers fleeing collective agreements. Overall, social insurance in Germany would lose around 43 billion euros in contributions annually, while the federal, state and local governments would receive around 27 billion euros less in taxes. This emerges from calculations by the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) based on data from the Federal Statistical Office.
The so-called collective bargaining evasion is an employer’s attempt to circumvent a collective agreement and thus pay wages and salaries that are lower than those agreed upon in the collective agreement. According to the DGB, this also means fewer payments into social insurance – i.e. lower income from unemployment, pension and health insurance. Tax revenue from income tax was also lower.
Purchasing power suffers
According to the DGB, the lack of collective bargaining also affects the purchasing power of the working population: with nationwide collective bargaining, employees would have a total of around 60 billion euros more in their wallets per year. If you look at this across the whole of Germany and across all sectors, the bottom line is that employees who do not have a collective agreement have 3,022 euros less net annually than those who have a collective agreement.
While many employees are annoyed about salaries not being paid properly despite the collective agreement, others can only dream of the security of such a collective agreement. The DGB criticized the fact that currently only around half of all employees benefit from collective bargaining regulations and their protection.
DGB demands
“This trend endangers our prosperity, weakens democracy and costs us dearly,” said DGB chairwoman Yasmin Fahimi. “We will continue to put pressure on political actors in the states and at the federal level so that they advocate for more collective bargaining – also through new legal regulations. Because the economic damage caused by employers’ flight from collective bargaining over three decades is enormous. They are allowed to do that Stop ignoring politics.”
The union demands that public contracts and funding generally only be awarded to companies that apply collective agreements. In addition, there must also be better laws in the private sector in order to strengthen collective bargaining.
The Federal Association of Employers’ Associations (BDA) criticized the DGB’s campaign. “The unions always look for blame and responsibility in others,” said BDA general manager Steffen Kampeter to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. However, collective agreements and collective bargaining agreements are primarily a joint task of the social partners. “The DGB dwarfs itself with its constant cries for help in politics.” According to Kampeter, there is a “flight from the unions rather than from the employers’ associations”. “The legislature should compensate for this deficit for the unions,” he accused the DGB. (dpa)
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