Germany’s state and municipal employees have won a gradual increase in their pay to offset inflation after a rate deal struck overnight from Saturday to Sunday will prevent further strikes.
“We have reached a responsible tariff agreement,” said Home Secretary Nancy Faeser, head of the federal civil service.
The pressure on the social partners was strong after several weeks of negotiations without result, accompanied by strike movements in many public sectors -post office, transport or hospitals- in a context of sharp price increases.
Some 2.5 million state and municipal workers will see their wages increased by 5.5%, or at least 340 euros per month, as of March 2024. As of June 2023, compensation for inflation must be paid in several installments tax exempt amounting to 3,000 euros.
At least 340 euros more per month
“In deciding to accept this compromise, we have gone to the tolerable limit,” Frank Werneke, president of the unified services union (Verdi), which represents public employees, said in a press release.
Verdi and the federation of civil servants demanded a salary increase of 10.5% and at least 500 euros per month for a period of twelve months.
This agreement will prevent a hardening of the social movement after several days of mobilization and strikes since the beginning of the year.
Verdi had joined a vast national strike movement in late March that had paralyzed the transport sector in Germany.
The inflation records registered in recent months in the country, with an annual maximum of 10.4% in October, have put pressure on annual wage negotiations in the different sectors of activity.
Tariff discussions continue in other sectors, such as the rail sector, where rail workers observed a mid-day strike on Friday.
By the end of 2022, almost 4 million German industrial workers got a wage increase of 8.5% in two years.
In the airport sector, security personnel at the Berlin airport are called to strike on Monday by the Verdi union.
Source: BFM TV
