Press Release No. 05/2014 IG Metall Welcomes Minimum Wages for the Laundry Industry

Frankfurt am Main – IG Metall has welcomed the regulation issued by the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (BMAS) regarding the minimum wage for laundry services in the commercial sector.

The 2009 minimum wage regulation expired on March 31, 2013. In the fall of 2013, the parties to the collective bargaining agreement reached a new collective bargaining agreement and jointly applied to the BMAS for it to be declared generally binding.

The new regulation provides for the following minimum wages:

West East
Effective January 31, 2014: €8.25 €7.50
Effective October 1, 2014: €8.50 €8.00
Effective July 1, 2016: €8.75 €8.75

The minimum wage applies not only to all laundry companies but also to subcontractors and foreign workers employed in Germany.

“The minimum wage will at least partially put a stop to wage dumping and ruinous competition in the industry,” said Jörg Hofmann, vice president of IG Metall, on Friday in Frankfurt. “It’s especially good for laundry companies that we now have this agreement. It gives employees an immediate entitlement to a pay raise. Women in particular will benefit from the new regulation. About 80 percent of the employees in the industry are women.”