After 8 months of rotating strikes, 7 fruitless meetings and 1 bargaining night, the social partners in retail trade in Baden-Württemberg (Stuttgart) reached an agreement on Thursday, December 5 on a 5.1 percent wage increase divided in two. The new agreement will be retroactively in force from July 1, 2013 to July 1, 2015, i.e. 24 months. Besides, and this is important for the Verdi services union, the EHV regional employers’ organization agreed, following the creation of a new category of low-skilled workers, to reinstate the framework agreement terminated by employers at national level in the beginning of the year. Indeed, employers and unions have been divided over the definition of personnel categories for more than 10 years. The agreement signed on Thursday morning covers 10,000 businesses and 220,000 employees in the region. In keeping with tradition, it should serve as a pilot for all of Germany. Retail trade, a sector that employs about 3 million people, hasn’t negotiated a national collective agreement in years. (Ref. 130776)
5.1 percent increase over 24 months divided in two. The commerce employers’ organization of Baden-Württemberg and the Verdi union reached an agreement early in the morning on Thursday, December 5, for a 5.1 percent increase divided in two for the sector’s 220,000 employees. They will receive a 3 percent increase retroactively on July 1, 2013 and a 2.1 percent increase on April 1, 2014.
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