Jun 6, 2015
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Act aimed at streamlining wage-bargaining and preventing small, localised industrial disputes, from paralysing entire sectors, Unions see it as a ban on the right to strike.
The parliament passed a new act aimed at streamlining wage-bargaining and preventing small, localised industrial disputes, like the recent strikes by train drivers and pilots, from paralysing entire sectors. The act seeks to reintroduce the principle of ‘one company, one wage agreement’, that was abandoned after a court decision in 2010. It settles rules for competing unions within the same company and job category in the case of a wage dispute. If the competing unions cannot agree, the union with the most members will become the sole partner to negotiate with management in an industrial dispute. The underlying idea is that it will force different trade unions in one company to act together instead of campaigning against each other. The proposal will go to the senate for final approval on 12 June. Though the act could strengthen their position, some DGB unions have principle reservations; they see it as an introduction of a ban on the right to strike.
English: http://auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/strike-hit-germany …
German: http://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/tarifeinheit-faq-101.html
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/tarifeinheitsgesetz-bundestag-schwaecht …
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.