Germany: working and pay conditions are still uneven in the east and the west

Between light and shade. 284-pages long, the 2010 edition of the WSI’s handbook (WSI-Tarifhandbuch) is dedicated to the evolution of collective agreements signed in eastern Germany. And the results are halfhearted. Thus, unions managed to transfer to the east the west-German collective agreement system. Regarding the content, the agreements are also increasingly similar. Thus, the level of basic pay, defined in collective agreements in the east, now amounts to 96% of west-German wages, as opposed to about 60% in 1991. Likewise, the work week is also closer. In 1991, East Germans still worked 40.2 hours a week, i.e. nearly two hours more than in the west. At the end of 2009, they worked 38.8 hours a week as opposed to 37.4 in the west.