Press Release No. 01/2018 IG Metall: Actively Use the Right to Information to Promote Pay Equity

Frankfurt am Main – Starting January 6, 2018, employees have a legal right to find out whether they are being paid fairly. This is based on the Pay Transparency Act, which was passed in the summer of 2017 and guarantees all women and men an individual right to information if they work at companies with more than 200 employees. “The law is a step in the right direction, even if the threshold is too high. Employees should actively exercise this legal right to information to clarify whether they are being discriminated against on the basis of gender,” said Christiane Benner, Second Chair of IG Metall, on Thursday in Frankfurt. “Pay equity means recognizing performance. Every unjustified euro difference must therefore be corrected.” Only when there is greater transparency regarding pay disparities between men and women within a company can injustice be eliminated. “The more people have it in black and white that they are being paid less, the more likely companies will take action and pay men and women the same wages,” said Benner.

Under the new law, employees have the right to learn the criteria used to determine their own pay when compared to colleagues of the opposite sex performing comparable work. The procedure stipulates that employees must be provided with the average monthly gross pay of a comparison group of at least six employees of the opposite sex who perform the same or equivalent work. IG Metall advises and supports employees in their requests for information. Furthermore, the union is training works councils on how to implement the new law. In companies with a works council, employees can direct their inquiries directly to the works council.

Ensuring Pay Equity

In companies with a collective bargaining agreement and a works council, the gender pay gap is smaller. A study by the Hans Böckler Foundation shows that in companies bound by collective bargaining agreements, the pay gap is 10 percentage points lower than in companies not bound by such agreements, and women in particular benefit from this. On average, they earn 9.2 percent more when they work in companies bound by collective bargaining agreements.

Benner emphasized: “IG Metall expects the parties involved in the exploratory talks to propose solutions to strengthen collective bargaining coverage. We need binding instruments to strengthen collective bargaining coverage—including to ensure pay equity between the genders.”