The employees at Aldi Nord and Süd receive more money every month for their work as well as a one-off payment in autumn. The Verdi union doesn’t like that. Why?
After Lidl, Rewe and Kaufland, the discounter Aldi also wants to unilaterally increase wages and salaries of employees before a collective agreement is reached.
The employees paid according to the tariff received, depending on the tariff area, two percent more money retrospectively from June 1 or during the summer months, Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd announced. In addition, the discounter is planning a one-off payment of up to EUR 300 in the fall. The wage increase will later be offset against the collective bargaining agreement.
“The collective bargaining in retail has been dragging on for months. The corporate groups Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd do not want their employees in Germany to wait any longer and until the collective bargaining parties have reached an agreement, ”the company justified the move. Aldi is following a recommendation from the German Retail Association (HDE), which suggested the unusual step at the beginning of July to all retailers who had come through the Corona crisis well.
The background: The collective bargaining in the retail trade with its more than three million employees is particularly complicated this year. Because of the corona pandemic, there are much greater differences in the economic situation of retailers than usual. While grocers, for example, were among the winners of the crisis and recorded enormous increases in sales during the pandemic, sales in the fashion trade collapsed due to corona-related shop closings.
In the negotiations, employers are therefore pressing for a differentiation between companies depending on how they are affected by the crisis. This does not meet with much approval from the Verdi union. She calls for a flat rate increase of 4.5 percent.
Before Aldi, Rewe had already announced that it would follow the HDE recommendation. The Schwarz Group – to which the retail chains Lidl and Kaufland belong – had already announced at the end of May that it would voluntarily increase wages by three percent from July and announced that it would also stick to the wage increase if the collective agreement was lower. Verdi accuses employers of unilateral wage setting and accuses them of wanting to fob off employees cheaply.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
