Frankfurt/Berlin
There is a collective bargaining solution for the approximately 930,000 workers in the German construction sector. In the third week of the warning strike, IG BAU and employers agreed on a joint proposal with a term of three years, they jointly announced on Wednesday. The proposal must be discussed in committees by June 14. Until then, industrial action has been suspended.
At the end of the three-year period, salaries in the eastern and western collective bargaining areas should be completely equal. In the first phase, all monthly salaries will increase by a fixed rate of 230 euros and by 1.2 percent in the west and 2.2 percent in the east. The second phase will provide 4.2 percent more in the west and 5.0 percent in the east by April 1 next year. A year later, wages in the West rose by 3.9 percent and those in the East rose fully to the level in the West.
The head of IG Bauen Agrar Umwelt, Robert Feiger, considered the agreement a success of the warning strikes. “In terms of volume, this result is above the arbitrator’s ruling, which we have always demanded. It was the construction workers who fought for this result.” He will recommend acceptance to the union committees.
The employers rejected the arbitrator’s decision
Negotiator Uwe Nostitz was pleased that the collective labor agreement negotiation dispute could now end peacefully. “The sooner our companies and their employees can focus on building together again, the better for the entire industry.” The vice-president of the Main Association of the German Construction Industry, Jutta Beeke, emphasized the three-year term. This creates planning certainty when the order situation is tense.
At the beginning of May, the contractually agreed collective labor agreement collapsed. After three failed rounds of negotiations, arbitrator Rainer Schlegel proposed wage increases in two phases on April 19. Initially, incomes would rise by a lump sum of 250 euros in May and eleven months later by a further 4.15 percent in the west and 4.95 percent in the east. While IG BAU accepted the compromise proposal, the employers’ organizations rejected it in early May. IG BAU then called for warning strikes and went on strike again over their original demand of 500 euros more per month.
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