Germany - Union welcomes linking of procurement and collective bargaining - February 28, 2026

Ver.di union welcomes the Government’s “Bundestariftreuegesetz” (Federal Law on Compliance with Collective Agreements), which ensures that certain public contracts will only be given to private companies which apply the conditions of the valid collective agreement. The law still needs to be improved by the second chamber of the regions – the Bundesrat. The Government has investment plans of € 115 billion in 2025, with a further € 120 billion in the coming years. Low-wage companies that don’t do nit apply the conditions of collective agreements and engage in wage dumping will no longer benefit from the associated public contracts. According to ver.di, this sends an important signal to all employers and employees: price dumping and poor working conditions no longer pay off when bidding for federal contracts. After a long struggle, this is a step towards greater collective bargaining protection.

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For more information, please contact Paul de Beer or Oana Ciuca, De Burcht (Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade Union Movement) p.t.debeer@uva.nl or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Mehmet Koksal mkoksal@etui.org. For previous full issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit https://www.etui.org/Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter or consult the archive with all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.eu. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org.