On 28 June, social partners in the metalworking industry in the eastern Länder (Berlin-Brandenburg-Saxony) presented a regional agreement, which for the first time provides a general legal negotiations framework to align salary levels in the former German Democratic Republic’s Länder with those in the former Federal Republic of Germany. For the trade unions, this agreement represents an historic achievement for this demand that dates back more than 20 years. For the employers, the terms of how the agreement is to be applied remain extremely flexible.
An historic agreement. While the new collective agreement on salaries in the metal industry was negotiated and approved at national level at the beginning of April 2021 (c.f. article No. 12446), the social partners in the sector for the new Länder (Berlin-Brandenburg-Saxony) continued battling over East-West salary equalization until 25 June. More than 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, metalworkers in the East are working 38 hours a week to earn the same salaries as their colleagues i
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