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Press Release No. 19/2014 IG Metall Welcomes the Passage of the Act to Strengthen Collective Bargaining Autonomy

IG-Metall-Fahnen
Foto: IG Metall

3 July 2014 3 July 2014

“The statutory minimum wage finally sets a floor against wage dumping and significantly curtails the scandalous practice of unreasonably low wages. This sends a clear signal for greater social justice,” said Detlef Wetzel, President of IG Metall, on Thursday in Frankfurt.

The first minimum wage increase agreed upon for 2017 and the subsequent alignment of the minimum wage with general collective bargaining trends are also sensible measures. Wetzel criticized the exemptions, particularly those for young people and the long-term unemployed: “Fair wages know no age limit.”

With the measures also adopted to ease the process for declaring collective agreements generally binding and to extend the scope of the Posting of Workers Act to all sectors, the danger of constant cut-throat competition can be effectively countered, said Jörg Hofmann, Second Chairman of IG Metall. “For millions of workers, especially those in small businesses, this effectively puts a stop to the danger of constant cut-throat competition,” Hofmann emphasized. This also applies to low-cost providers from abroad. With these regulations, the government is effectively strengthening the collective bargaining system without interfering in wage determination. “This is an important step against declining collective bargaining coverage—including employers’ evasion of collective agreements—and thus protects workers from excessive exploitation,” said Hofmann.

Hofmann announced that, in addition to the electrical trades and industrial laundries—which are already covered by the Posting of Workers Act—IG Metall will call on other sectors to conclude collective bargaining agreements setting minimum wages. “I don’t want to hear any employer in the skilled trades or industry-related services complain during wage negotiations about competition from non-collective-agreement businesses. It is now up to employers to work together with IG Metall to protect themselves against wage dumping.”


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