Berlin (dpa) – The long-awaited breakthrough has been achieved: Municipal daycare workers and other employees in social professions can very soon look forward to more money and additional free time.
There is great relief on all sides at the compromise that the Verdi trade union and the civil servants’ association dbb have found with the municipal employers. After twelve hours of negotiations, late Wednesday evening, the collective bargaining partners agreed on additional days of rest and monthly allowances for the approximately 330,000 employees in the municipal public social and educational services.
With the breakthrough, which was initially considered unlikely, further warning strikes in municipal public social and educational services were averted for the time being. Verdi wants its members to decide on the collective bargaining agreement by June. According to the information, it is considered very likely that the contract will be accepted.
Two extra days off
The agreement stipulates that the employees will initially receive two additional days off per year. In the future, they should also have the option of converting part of their income into a maximum of two additional days off. This would allow for up to four additional days of rest for employees each year. The option to convert money into days off refers specifically to a new allowance that employees are to receive from July: In addition to the additional days off, educators in the municipal public service will then receive an additional 130 euros a month. For social workers there will also be an additional 180 euros from July.
In addition, the agreement stipulates that professional experience in social and educational services should in future be rewarded in the same way as other employees in the public sector. Therefore, the salaries of the employees should rise faster in the future than before. The time an employee stays in a pay grade before they can move up will be aligned with general government grades effective October 1, 2024. The tariff result has a term of five years until December 31, 2026.
New agreement does not apply in Berlin
Employees in all federal states benefit from the new agreement – except in Berlin. According to Verdi, other tariff regulations have priority in the capital. However, the unions assume that the results will also “radiate” to employees in other areas.
“This is thanks to the colleagues in the social and educational services who have fought and gone on strike in the past few days and weeks,” said Verdi chairman Frank Werneke on Wednesday evening. The agreement was “successful despite considerable resistance from municipal employers”. He emphasized that it was only an “intermediate step”. Dbb negotiator Andreas Hemsing spoke of a “social necessity”. The trade unions have been demanding relief for employees in social professions for years.
On Thursday, there was support for the negotiators in Berlin and Potsdam from regional associations and associations such as the trade union for education and science, which belongs to the German trade union federation. “With the collective bargaining agreement, the unions have taken important steps towards upgrading the social and educational professions,” said GEW collective bargaining expert Daniel Merbitz.
“Good and successful compromise”
The President of the Association of Municipal Employers’ Associations (VKA), Karin Welge, explained in turn that “employers had clearly reached their limits”. The VKA assumes that the personnel costs of municipal employers will increase by around 3.7 percent annually due to the new allowances alone. Overall, however, Welge spoke of a “good and successful compromise”.
The unions had been working towards the agreement that had now been reached for weeks. After two unsuccessful rounds of negotiations in February and March, the collective bargaining partners sat down again on Monday. On Tuesday afternoon, the talks were moved from Potsdam to Berlin for logistical reasons. They were supposed to end on Wednesday afternoon – but dragged on until late in the evening.
The next regular collective bargaining in the public sector is scheduled for January 2023. Municipal employees in social and educational services can then hope for further improvements.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220518-99-344712/5
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