Hall. IGBAU. They clean schools and offices, ensure hygiene in hospitals and nursing homes: The 2,240 cleaning staff in Halle (Saale) do an indispensable job not only in times of a pandemic. But when it comes to pay, employees are threatened with a severe step backwards. The building cleaning union IG BAU warns of this. “Cleaners are currently paid at least 11.55 euros per hour – well above the statutory minimum wage. But that will rise to 12 euros in October. If nothing happens by then, building cleaners would go home with the absolute minimum wage. That is clearly not enough for the important and professional work they do,” says Kerstin Fischer.
The district chairwoman of IG BAU Sachsen-Anhalt Süd is therefore demanding that employees continue to be “earned significantly more than the statutory minimum wage” – at least 13.73 euros per hour. A specific number for which the trade unionist gives clear reasons: “The special industry minimum wage in building cleaning was previously 1.73 euros above the statutory lower wage limit. It has to stay that way. Companies will only be able to find staff for the industry at all if the pay continues to be attractive,” says Fischer. The IG BAU demands that at the same time the income for specialists – for example in glass and facade cleaning – increase significantly.
With a view to the price increases, it is now important that employees receive a substantial increase in wages. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the inflation rate reached 7.4 percent in April, a new high since reunification. “People on a tight budget often don’t know how to get through to the end of the month. Expensive energy and food are also a problem for cleaning staff. They often work part-time and have to count every penny twice,” says Fischer.
However, at the last collective bargaining on May 23, 2022, the Federal Guild Association of the Building Cleaning Trade (BIV) “did not submit anything that gives hope for a quick collective bargaining agreement”. Employers should now improve their offer quickly – in order to avoid trouble with their employees, according to IG BAU Sachsen-Anhalt Süd. Under the motto “We don’t sweat for minimum wage”, cleaning workers in the region are already preparing for protest actions. Collective bargaining for around 700,000 employees across Germany will enter the next round on June 2nd in Frankfurt am Main.
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