In 2018, social partners in Germany will conduct negotiations over salaries and collective agreements, which will effect more than 9.7 million employees. This compares to the 11.4 million affected by such renegotiation during the course of 2017. However, collective bargaining will be by no means easier. At the end of this year and at the start of 2018, negotiations are scheduled to take place in the metal and electrical engineering industries, two key sectors. In the wake of those talks, further negotiations are due to take place at big firms in the country, including Deutsche Post, Volkswagen and Telekom Deutschland. Other significant negotiations will be held in February, for the public sector and the construction industry. While in July and August talks will take place in the chemicals sector. Here is a detailed schedule of the negotiations that are set to occur, put together by the Hans Böckler Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI).
Metal industry set for thorny negotiations. From 15 November, negotiations will commence on a regional level over the renewal of the collective agreement covering the metalwork, machine-tools, electrical engineering and automobile sectors. Rainer Dulger, president of Gesamtmetall, the employer organisation, described the demands of the IG Metall union (see article n°10391) as geared “towards the past and not towards the future”, thus setting the tone for the negotiations. He underlined that met
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