Press Release No. 08/2012 First collective bargaining negotiations between IG Metall and temporary staffing employer associations postponed

Düsseldorf – The first collective bargaining negotiations between IG Metall and the Federal Association of Personnel Service Providers (BAP) and the Association of German Temporary Employment Agencies (iGZ) regarding industry-specific wage supplements for temporary agency workers were postponed after about three hours. “A quick solution is not in sight. We are only at the beginning of a difficult negotiation process and are still a long way from our goal of fair pay for temporary agency workers,” said Helga Schwitzer, executive board member and chief negotiator for IG Metall, on Wednesday in Düsseldorf. The negotiations are scheduled to resume on March 20, 2012.

Schwitzer criticized the fact that temporary agency workers are, almost without exception, paid significantly less than permanent employees. Furthermore, she noted, temporary agency work is increasingly being misused to replace permanent jobs, thereby dividing the workforce into first- and second-class employees. IG Metall wants to change that. “Our goal is and remains the principle: equal pay for equal work. However, in terms of collective bargaining, we can only improve the pay of temporary agency workers within our own organizational sphere,” said Schwitzer. She added that it is up to lawmakers to fundamentally eliminate the division of the workforce and the scandalous conditions of temporary agency work that exist in many sectors.