Germany: accused of wage dumping, the Schlecker hardware stores have to backpedal

Re-hired with wages cut by 50%. Since early 2009, the Ver.di services’ union has been accusing the hardware store chain of closing over 1,000 small shops throughout Germany and replacing them with hypermarkets (Schlecker XL Markt), managed by a new company, Schlecker XL GmbH (see our dispatch No. 091107). According to Ver.di, employees from the stores closed have two choices: either they are without a job, or they can be hired by the Meniar temp agency, which exclusively works for Schlecker XL GmbH. Run by a former Schlecker HRD, Meniar offers its employees, still according to Ver.di, wages approximately 50% lower than the tariffs provided for on the majority collective agreements prevailing in retail trade, i.e. €6.78 an hour as opposed to €12.70. Ver.di thinks that Meniar sent about 4,300 temporary workers to Schlecker XL GmbH. Openly accusing the hardware store chain (a rather uncommon attitude for a cabinet member), Minister for Labor and Social Affairs Ursula von der Leyen announced on Sunday evening that there would be an in-depth investigation of the company’s practices and, if necessary, amendments to the law regulating the employment of temporary workers (Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz). “If it turns out that there are loopholes in the law allowing practices which don’t match the law’s objectives, the law will have to be completed.”