T-ZUG: More Days Off—Even for Part-Time Employees
Since 2018, employees with children, dependents requiring care, or those working shifts have been able to choose between a collective bargaining-based bonus (T-ZUG A) and up to 8 additional days off per year. The pilot negotiation outcome from the IG Metall districts of Bavaria and the Coast now provides for a significant improvement.
In the future, more overburdened employees will have the opportunity to convert pay into time off (“collectively bargained time off”) more frequently.
And in the future, part-time employees will finally be able to request additional days off without restriction.
Children: Until now, parents of children under 8 years of age could choose days off. In the future, this will be possible for children under 12 years of age. In addition, there will be significantly more days off: Until now, parents could only choose days off twice per child. In the future, two periods of 8 days plus three periods of 6 days will be possible—for a total of five years with additional days off.
Care: Employees who care for family members can now also choose five more years of time off—two periods of 8 days plus three periods of 6 days.
Shift Work: Employees working rotating shifts can now—just like those already working three-shift rotations and night shifts—choose 8 days off per year after just 5 years of service and 3 years of shift work—with no limit.
Part-Time Work: And brand new: In the future, all part-time employees will be able to choose these days off, including those working rotating shifts—where full-time employment was previously required—as well as employees who were already working part-time before 2019.
The deadline for applying for T-ZUG days off for 2025 has been extended for all employees newly eligible to January 31, 2025.
Please note: Days off cannot be combined for multiple reasons (such as for multiple children or caregiving plus shift work). A maximum of 8 days per year is always allowed.
The works council and the employer can adapt a number of provisions to their specific workplace. For example, if too many requests for days off are submitted and cannot be accommodated within the company, an agreement may be reached to distribute the days off across the workforce—for instance, four days for all applicants. Additionally, the employer and the works council may agree that everyone in the company takes days off, thereby helping to secure jobs.
T-ZUG B will increase to 26.5 percent of the base pay starting in 2026
Starting in 2026, the collective bargaining supplementary payment B (T-ZUG B or supplementary amount) will increase from 18.5 percent of the base pay in the respective collective bargaining region—currently around 630 euros in the Coastal and Bavaria regions—to a flat rate of 26.5 percent of the base pay, or around 900 euros (slightly more or less in the other regions). As a result, the lower pay grades will receive a significantly higher percentage of their individual monthly pay than the higher pay grades.
IG Metall has thus achieved its goal of a “social component” that particularly benefits employees with lower incomes.
However, the T-ZUG B will no longer be paid out in July along with the T-ZUG A, as was previously the case, but rather in February—in exchange for the transformation allowance (T-Geld), which is now paid out in July.
The reason for this is that, going forward, the T-Geld—and no longer the T-ZUG B—can be “differentiated.”
“Differentiation” Remains—T-ZUG B Is Retained
Operators in financial difficulty were already able to “differentiate” the T-ZUG B in 2023 and 2024—meaning they could defer or suspend it entirely if their net return fell below 2.3 percent.
Differentiation will still be possible in 2025 and 2026. However, it will no longer be the T-ZUG B that is differentiated, but rather the Transformation Allowance (T-Geld)—previously paid out in February—amounting to 18.4 percent of the individual’s monthly pay.
As a result, the T-ZUG B—which will increase from 18.5 percent to 26.5 percent of the base pay in 2026—will remain in place as a “social component” for employees in the lower pay grades.
However, since companies cannot yet adequately predict how the economic situation will develop over the course of the year when the T-Geld is paid out in February, IG Metall and employers have postponed the payment of the T-Geld to July—in exchange for the T-ZUG B, which was previously paid out in July and will now be paid out in February.
Preserving Our Industrial Nation—Politicians Must Also Step Up
In a joint statement, IG Metall and the employers’ association Gesamtmetall are calling on policymakers to set the right course as quickly as possible to improve Germany’s competitiveness on the international stage. Structural problems have heightened the challenge of securing locations and jobs, as well as developing new employment prospects within companies, the industry, and the region.
- Bringing electricity costs down to an internationally competitive level. This includes introducing a transitional electricity price for energy-intensive companies that face international competition—regardless of their size. There is an urgent need to reduce grid fees for all companies, as well as the electricity tax.
- Accelerated expansion of all renewable energy sources, transmission and distribution grids, as well as storage facilities and backup power plants.
- Ensuring necessary government investment in future-proof infrastructure (transportation, digital networks, energy, etc.) and innovation (research funding, startups, technology transfer) and transformation, as well as increased incentives for private investment
- Digitization and modernization of public administration to accelerate planning and permitting processes
- Increased efforts to ramp up e-mobility—including through the rapid expansion of a Europe-wide charging infrastructure and ensuring affordable charging electricity Both the economic situation and structural problems make it more challenging to secure business locations and jobs, as well as to develop new employment opportunities within one’s own company, the industry, and the region. To the extent possible and appropriate, local labor market and education policy initiatives will be supported and, if necessary, accompanied by collective bargaining measures.
“Collective bargaining can achieve a great deal—we’ve demonstrated that. Social partnership is the most important stabilizing factor for companies and employees in uncertain times. We find common solutions,” explained IG Metall Chairwoman Christiane Benner, calling on policymakers to now also demonstrate their ability to act and not to waste any time. “Politicians must solve the structural problems we currently face. We need lower energy prices now, especially for energy-intensive companies. We need measures now to ramp up electric mobility, investments in infrastructure, and thus in our future.”
You can find IG Metall’s 11-point plan for preserving our industrial nation here: IG Metall’s 11-Point Plan
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