The German states and public sector unions face tough negotiations over pay in the coming months. The service sector union Verdi and the German Civil Service Federation are demanding a seven percent pay increase, but at least €300 per month, in the wage negotiations that begin in Berlin on Wednesday. If no negotiable offer from employers is presented by the second round of talks in mid-January, there could be warning strikes, for example, affecting winter road maintenance, schools, and the police.
The German states’ collective bargaining association (TdL), in which state employers (excluding Hesse) negotiate jointly, rejects the wage demands as “unacceptable.” The unions are “raising unrealistic expectations with ritualized, astronomical demands,” declared Hamburg’s Finance Senator Andreas Dressel (SPD), head of the TdL, before the start of negotiations. The union demands would burden the states with approximately four billion euros annually for salaried employees alone, and an additional 12.6 billion euros for civil servants.
Verdi’s national chairman, Frank Werneke, countered that the unions had reached a collective bargaining agreement with the federal and municipal governments. The financial situation of the states is “significantly better.” There is no reason why a state-level collective agreement should be worse than the one for the federal and municipal governments.
If a warning strike becomes necessary, a broad call for participation will be issued should no employer offer be forthcoming by the second round of negotiations. “Therefore, I expect the state finance ministers to adopt a respectful and responsible negotiating style,” said Werneke. The negotiating parties must demonstrate “that they can achieve something and not publicly tear each other apart, as is unfortunately happening in politics at the moment.”
The collective bargaining agreement for state employees (excluding Hesse) expired at the end of October. Following the initial round of negotiations, a second round is scheduled for January 15 and 16, and a third round from February 11 to 13.
According to Verdi’s estimates, each additional percentage point will cost the states approximately one billion euros. Based on the latest tax revenue forecast from October, the states can expect nearly eight billion euros more in tax revenue this year and next compared to the May forecast. This annual increase is then expected to gradually decrease. However, overall state revenues are projected to continue rising by approximately three percent annually.
In the 2023 collective bargaining round, state employees received a monthly supplement of €200 on November 1, 2024, after more than a year without a pay increase, but with one-off payments. This was followed by a further increase of 5.5 percent starting in February of this year. Meanwhile, in April, the unions and employers at the federal and municipal levels reached another agreement, increasing salaries there by a total of 5.8 percent in two stages over a 27-month period.
The TdL (Association of German States) puts this wage increase at an average of 2.6 percent annually. Depending on their pay grade, employees at the federal and municipal levels can expect between four and ten percent more money than they currently earn at the state level, as comparative pay calculations show.
The latest collective bargaining agreement for federal and municipal employees could only have been reached after mediation, which the employers had requested. If there are disagreements at the negotiating table between the unions and the states, this option is not available, as there is no mediation agreement in place.
In the event of a dispute, unions retain the option of enforcement strikes to achieve their demands. In separate rounds of negotiations, Verdi and the transport union EVG brought long-distance and local rail services to a standstill nationwide in March 2023 with a joint warning strike.
This round of negotiations applies to state employees. The negotiating parties have differing estimates of how many employees are affected. Verdi counts 1.2 million public sector employees (excluding those in Hesse), the German Civil Service Federation (DBB) cites 1.1 million, and the Association of German Employers’ Associations (TdL) states 860,000.
Indirectly, a negotiated agreement would also benefit 1.4 million civil servants, who are not permitted to strike, and approximately one million pensioners. For these groups, the state parliaments typically approve the adoption of the proposed agreement without any changes to its terms.
Hesse is not a member of the TdL and is negotiating separately. The wage negotiations there begin on February 27th in Wiesbaden with essentially the same demands as in the state wage negotiations.
AFP – Translated by Blackout News