2023-10-11 19:58:12
The unions around Verdi are entering the collective bargaining round for the public sector (ÖD) in the federal states with a demand of 10.5 percent more salary, but at least 500 euros more per month. Young talent should receive 200 euros more and trainees should be taken on for an unlimited period. In the summer, the federal and local governments agreed with unions on new collective agreements, now it is the turn of the states.
“The employees are not only working at the limit, but beyond it,” said Verdi boss Frank Werneke on Wednesday afternoon in Berlin. “In many public institutions, the load limit has long been exceeded.” There are 300,000 unfilled positions nationwide across the public sector.
At the same time, state employees brought up the rear when it came to pay in the public sector. The difference between the federal and local governments is on average more than ten percent. “The pressure and often the frustration are great,” says Werneke.
More about tariff demands
The 1.2 million collective bargaining employees in the federal state public service are organized in several unions, but have come together under the leadership of Verdi. They work in a number of areas: in universities and in finance and road construction offices or in the police. In Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg, kindergartens are also a state responsibility.
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The largest group is made up of teachers. The dramatic shortage of teachers in particular is pushing many people to their limits, says Maike Finnern, head of the GEW teachers’ union. “At least the salary has to be right,” she demands.
“The demand is not surprising. It fits into times of high inflation and is based on other tariff rounds of the last few months,” says political scientist and tariff expert Wolfgang Schröder to WELT. “The focus on the lower income groups in the public sector is remarkable. The demand for at least 500 euros plus would mean 15 percent more for some employees.”
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Given the dire financial situation of many municipalities, another point in the negotiations harbors potential for conflict. The unions not only want more money for employees, but also for pensioners. However, this demand is hidden at the very end of the press release; in their speeches, the trade unionists only touched on the topic in passing.
“Verdi also calls for the collective bargaining results to be transferred at the same time and with the same effect to the approximately 1.3 million civil servants and pension recipients.” According to the Civil Service Association, the group of pensioners to whom the collective bargaining results should apply includes around one million.
The financial burden that would have to be borne would be considerable if the unions got their demand: the group of those who are already retired is almost as large as those who are still active.
“The exact transfer of the wage claim to the pensioners is unusual”
Tariff expert Schröder is surprised by this part of the demands. “The pension increases in Germany are roughly based on wage increases – but the legislature is responsible for this and not the unions. However, the exact transfer of wage demands to the group of pensioners in a collective bargaining round is unusual.”
According to the Federal Statistical Office, the number of pensioners has more than doubled in the past 30 years. There are currently 1.8 million and the number is rising. Expenses also increase accordingly.
In 2012, pensioners received an average gross pension of 3,170 euros – well above the usual statutory pension level. The state’s spending on pensioners amounted to around 52 billion euros in 2021.
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Andreas Dressel (SPD), chairman of the Collective Bargaining Association of German States (TdL), and finance senator in Hamburg, promises employees “appreciation in the form of appropriate wage increases”. However, the demand would bring increases of an average of 12.5 percent – resulting in an additional cost burden for the states of around 5.9 billion euros over the year, he tells the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten”. Including the transfer to civil servants, there would be costs of 19 billion euros. “This cannot be financed in the long term,” says Dressel.
The start of the round of negotiations is part of a series of extensive demands and subsequent labor disputes in recent months. Verdi shut down air traffic in Germany in February, many mailboxes remained empty in March as a result of the postal strike, and a number of trains did not run in May.
Some of the demands this year were remarkably high, often with double-digit percentage growth. For example, employees at Deutsche Bahn want twelve percent more salary, those in the paper and plastics industry want 10.5 percent and postal workers even want an increase of 15 percent.
There is great pressure to recruit people from the private sector
“The unions’ most recent offensives are mainly due to the labor shortage, the resulting competition in the labor market and high inflation,” says Schröder.
In the wake of inflation, the unions see themselves on the rise, the shortage of staff and the associated concerns of employers are strengthening the negotiating position of Verdi and Co. Rene Klemmer, deputy federal chairman of the police union, speaks of a “frightening situation”. “In many departments, the work has to be distributed among fewer and fewer shoulders.”
“The pressure to recruit people from business is huge,” says Verdi boss Werneke. Ulrich Silberbach, head of the Civil Service Association, adds: “The states are often no longer competitive on the labor market.” These statements are surprising, as the number of public sector employees has increased year after year since 2008: there are now 5.1 million, more than ten percent of all employed people in Germany.
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Schröder, on the other hand, can understand the concerns. “The public service has major problems attracting applicants, especially among highly qualified people. An IT expert, for example, earns many times as much in the private sector and can often choose between employers – so why should he work in a government agency?” The argument of security and stability in the public sector as an employer also no longer counted as much in times of labor shortages.
What unites the individual unions: Due to constantly new tasks, laws and regulations coupled with the high number of refugees, the workload is increasing in almost all areas. At the press conference, Werneke “explicitly” pointed out the challenge facing municipalities in the wake of the refugee movement. Schröder also says: “The stress has increased in many places due to the refugee movement. The usual staffing ratio is often no longer sufficient.”
The age bomb is ticking: Silberbach warned of an impending wave of retirements and announced that new statistics on the staff shortage would soon be published. The number of 300,000 vacancies mentioned so far would continue to grow.
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