PRESS RELEASE NO. 09/2019 Electrical Trades: Minimum wages to rise by 4.4 percent in 2020

Frankfurt am Main – Starting next year, the sector-wide minimum wages in the electrical and information technology trades will increase by 4.4 percent. This was agreed upon by IG Metall and the Central Association of German Electrical and Information Technology Trades (ZVEH). Starting January 1, 2020, the minimum wages will be raised to 11.90 euros per hour. Thereafter, they will increase by 50 cents annually through 2023. As of January 1, 2024, they will stand at 13.95 euros.

Alwin Boekhoff, chief negotiator for IG Metall: “For the first time, all employees directly involved in electrical work will receive the industry’s minimum wage—not just installers, as was previously the case. The minimum wage for the electrical trades is thus significantly higher than the statutory minimum wage of 9.35 euros, which takes effect next year.”

Vice President Dr. Gerd Böhme, chief negotiator for the ZVEH: “This agreement ensures that employees share in the positive economic development and that electrical contractors enjoy equal, fair competition at the lower end of the pay scale. This rules out dumping wages.”

The collective bargaining agreement takes effect on January 1, 2020, and expires without retroactive effect on December 31, 2024. IG Metall and the ZVEH aim to have this collective bargaining agreement declared generally binding once again by the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. It will then apply to the more than 500,000 employees in all electrical trade businesses. The general applicability of the collective bargaining agreement currently in effect—which establishes a minimum wage in the electrical trades—expires at the end of this year.