Germany: IG BCE chemistry union and key temporary work federation sign deal paving the way for general equal pay between temporary and permanent workers

Threatening with a law.  The social partners and the political parties have also been bitterly debating the issue of equal pay for several years.  However, so far, only the social partners in the steel industry were able to strike a deal on the subject (see our dispatch No.  100688) and to put the principle of “Equal pay for equal work” in practice.  Indeed, unlike most EU Member States, Germany is no longer forced to transpose the European directive on temporary work and equal pay since German temporary workers are directly hired with a permanent contract by the temporary work agencies.  In reality, there are many ways to avoid this, and the permanent contract often ends at the same time as the assignment in the company.  Because of unions’ pressure and anxious to fight against this deviation, the federal government asked the social partners, earlier this year, to reach an agreement on equal pay soon, or it would have to legislate.  Rather than bargaining for these agreements at sectoral level, the social partners and the government chose another method: they decided to negotiate equal pay with employers in the temporary industry directly.