Engineers earn nearly 22 percent more in companies covered by collective bargaining agreements. This makes collective bargaining coverage one of the most significant factors determining their income—alongside age, geographic location (East/West), and company size—and is just one of many examples illustrating the benefits of collective bargaining agreements for employees.
Meanwhile, perceptions regarding union work have also changed: Serving on a works council is now seen among academics as beneficial to one’s career. For example, because through this work they build networks and platforms through which a company’s employees can organize, discuss problems, and find solutions. Many bosses appreciate this. And during the crisis, they learned that they were better able to overcome problems by working together with organized employees.
Massive Restructuring
A similar trend can currently be observed in the ICT sector: At first glance, it remains one of the most successful industries in Germany. Revenue and the number of employees are rising steadily. However, driven by technological developments, new products, and services, the markets are changing—and companies are responding in some cases with massive restructuring, including workforce reductions and the relocation of jobs through near-shoring and offshoring.
Collective bargaining agreements ensure fair wage growth
Not least through collective bargaining agreements, we have ensured reliability in many places. We have also ensured that employees share in the industry’s record revenues. In companies that do not pay according to collective bargaining agreements, salaries rose by an average of just 2.4 percent last year—though this is still more than in previous years.
In companies bound by collective bargaining agreements, however, fixed incomes rose by a full four percent. This shows that collective bargaining agreements in the ICT sector are the most effective way to ensure fair salary growth. In addition, more and more employees value the protection and security that collective bargaining agreements offer with regard to jobs and working conditions.
Standards Against Which Others Must Measure Themselves
We are a successful multi-sector union that represents the interests of people in a wide variety of professions and occupations. Our collective bargaining policy is not limited to income issues. Collective bargaining agreements include provisions on parental leave, partial retirement, training and continuing education, lifetime work time accounts, remote work, and much more. We set standards against which non-collective-agreement-bound companies must measure themselves—and our influence extends far into the various industries.
For several years now, we have seen a steady increase in membership among white-collar workers—150,000 engineers and technical experts alone are now among our members. This is an extremely positive development. After all, when it comes to collective bargaining, good arguments alone often don’t get us very far. Whether a union is successful depends first and foremost on how strong it is and how much pressure it can exert. The more employees who organize, the stronger the bargaining position.
