After bargaining for a year and a half within the framework of the “Joint Occupational Safety and Health Strategy (GDA),” the German Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs, the BDA employers’ organization and the DGB union confederation signed, on September 5, a general statement, “Declaration on mental health at work.” In this document, the parties commit to taking concrete measures to prevent mental illness caused by work, and notably to spread prevention surveys in businesses. Indeed, they are already mandatory but in practice barely used. While welcoming this Declaration, the DGB immediately pointed out that it was only a first step. Like the three opposition parties (SPD, Greens and radical left), the union wants an “antistress regulation,” which employers refuse. (Ref. 130547)
Compromise on the causes of mental illness. In the preamble, the Ministry of Employment, employers and unions make one observation: mental disorders affect the health and quality of life of the people concerned but they also have a negative impact on companies and society. The cause of nearly 13 percent of working days lost because of incapacity, they are now the first ground of early retirement and cost about €29 billion in care. But the signing parties disagree on the origin of these disor
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