PRESS RELEASE Collective Bargaining Agreement: More Money and Fairness for Workers in the Textile and Service Sectors

Frankfurt am Main/Leipzig – Employees at laundries covered by collective bargaining agreements will receive higher pay. IG Metall reached this agreement with employers in Leipzig on Tuesday after 24 hours of negotiations. This followed the industry’s first warning strikes in over 30 years, in which approximately 4,000 employees participated. Nationwide, 22,000 people work in the textile services sector.

The outcome of the fourth round of collective bargaining provides for a net inflation adjustment bonus of 1,300 euros, to be paid in two installments (in July 2023 and January 2024). In March 2024 and 2025, employees will receive fixed increases of 150 euros each in the pay scales. IG Metall negotiator Miriam Bürger said: “Employees in the lower pay grades, in particular, are feeling the impact of inflation on their wallets. This collective bargaining agreement provides them with significant relief.” According to IG Metall, the agreement means a pay increase of nearly 15 percent in the west and nearly 19 percent in the east for low-wage earners in the companies.

IG Metall views the agreed-upon, gradual alignment of wages and salaries in the east with western levels as historic. Starting in May 2025, employees everywhere will receive the same wages and special payments. Bürger: “Equal work, equal costs, equal pay: It’s good that employers have finally understood this more than three decades after reunification.” The collective bargaining agreement makes the demanding work in the industry more attractive again and helps ensure a more secure future for companies.

The new collective bargaining agreement has a term of two years. In addition, IG Metall and employers agreed to continue the collective bargaining agreement on partial retirement and to provide a higher supplementary payment, as well as to extend the collective bargaining agreement on short-time work indefinitely.