Germany: the federal labour court rejected the preferential agreement for union members

In a decision published on May 9, 2007, the Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht - BAG) considered that negotiating a "union bonus" – that is advantages exclusively granted to unionized employees - was not allowable. The court gave a ruling on a complaint lodged by two employees working in a company from the chemistry sector. (Ref. 070421)
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Non-unionized workers cannot be penalized because they do not belong to a union organization. This is what the German federal labour court decided (decision n° 4 AZR 275/06)/ The court was ruling an appeal on a ruling rendered two weeks ago to two employees from a chemistry company. In 2003, this company had signed a company-wide agreement with the IG BCE, the chemistry union.

A discriminatory clause. This agreement planned an extra 55-euro monthly payment for all employees unionized since June

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