A week ago, the employers canceled the construction arbitration. The union’s response didn’t take long to arrive.
The threatened construction strikes are scheduled to begin next Monday (May 13th) in Lower Saxony. This was announced by IG Bauen Agrar Umwelt in Frankfurt. From Tuesday, the strikes in the construction industry with 930,000 employees would take place throughout Germany, a spokesman explained.
Lower Saxony was chosen because the employers there, along with some other regions, prevented the arbitrator’s decision from being implemented, according to the union. A central rally will take place in Osnabrück on Monday.
The arbitrator’s verdict
The employers rejected the arbitrator’s decision on Friday last week. The criticism was that the recommendation contained formal errors and did not take into account the difficult economic situation in the industry.
The IG BAU, on the other hand, had accepted the arbitrator’s ruling from the former President of the Federal Social Court, Rainer Schlegel. After that, incomes should increase by a flat rate of 250 euros in May and eleven months later by another 4.15 percent in the west and 4.95 percent in the east.
In the meantime, employers want to voluntarily increase employees’ wages. The Main Association of the German Construction Industry (HDB) and the Central Association of the German Construction Industry (ZDB) have suggested that companies add 5 percent in the West and 6 percent in the East.
The lowest wage group 1 should also increase nationwide to 14 euros an hourly wage on May 1st. The proposal is higher than the employers’ offer in the collective bargaining negotiations that preceded the arbitration.
Opportunity missed: Now it’s about the original demand
“The employers did not take advantage of their opportunity and did not fulfill their responsibility, explained the federal chairman of the union, Robert Feiger, in Frankfurt. Now it will automatically be more expensive for the companies: “We are now striking again for our original demand for 500 euros more month for all employees.”
Arbitration is contractually agreed between the collective bargaining parties as soon as one side declares the negotiations to have failed. IG BAU did this after three rounds. Schlegel published his arbitrator’s decision after negotiations in Wiesbaden on April 19th.
The construction industry is one of the largest employers in Germany and, with sales of around 162 billion euros in 2023, according to the construction industry association ZDB, an important pillar for the German economy. The industry had supported the economy for years during the real estate boom, but now it has become a problem child due to the crisis in housing construction.
Source: Stern
