For the first time, a regional collective agreement contains provisions that apply only to IG BCE members. Previously, these advantages were only available in company-level collective agreements.
Perk regulations apply: union members can be happy Photo by: Florian Boillot
HANOVER cup | For the first time in Germany, there are industry-wide rules that only apply to union members. Specifically: Employees of the chemical and pharmaceutical industries affiliated with the Industrial Union of Construction, Chemistry and Energy (IG BCE) will receive in the future one additional day of vacation and another day off per year if they have 10, 25, 40 and 50 years. years of union history. The IG BCE has just agreed on this in a new collective agreement with the Federal Association of Chemical Employers (BAVC).
Previously, provisions on benefits for union members only applied in company collective agreements and were rather an exception. Over the past two years, the Verdi union had negotiated bonuses of 875 euros for its members among the 6,400 employees of the largest German dialysis center operator, KfH (Board of Trustees for Home Dialysis).
At the German Employee Academy, Verdi members earn an additional 50 euros per month from 2022. Verdi has agreed with other employers on benefits for its members in the form of, among other things, product vouchers, job cards, faster promotions within of salary groups or supplements to the company's pension plans.
According to the Federal Labor Court (BAG), this scope cannot actually give rise to an obligation to join the union. The BAG accepted a compensation of 10,000 euros negotiated between IG Metall and Nokia Siemens Networks for its members only. The Hamm State Labor Court considers possible additional benefits equivalent to two annual union membership fees. The contribution is usually one percent of the annual salary.
Waiver of Christmas bonus
In some cases, employers have also used benefit regulations to buy consent for benefit restrictions. Struggling department store chain Real negotiated with Verdi in 2017 that employees would give up 60 percent of their Christmas and holiday pay; in exchange, Verdi members received an extra one percent of their gross annual salary.
Perk regulations are viewed differently in companies. Although some talk about a two-tier wage system, this is only correct and cheap for union members: with their contributions they finance an interest group from whose negotiations non-members also benefit.
In 2023, Verdi and the Waldkliniken Eisenberg in Thuringia agreed on a comprehensive collective agreement for union members only. It provides for the introduction of the 35-hour week with full wage compensation, a nine percent salary increase, one more day of vacation and a special annual payment of 3,000 euros from 2025.
Campaign for unions
“Legally, collective agreements are only valid for union members; employers also apply the regulations to all other employees. This is different, it is completely in our spirit and has revolutionary significance at the national level,” says Norbert Reuter, head of Verdi’s collective bargaining policy department. The effect is clear: before the agreement there were hardly any union members at the orthopaedic specialist clinic; now more than half of the 740 employees have joined Verdi.
IG BCE expects a similar development with the new benefits regulation. To date, 35 percent of the approximately 585,000 employees of chemical and pharmaceutical companies belonging to the BAVC are members. Chemical employers, on the other hand, are clearly interested in a strong IG BCE, whose demands are considered moderate compared to other unions. In the new collective agreement, wage increases totalling 6.85 percent over a period of 20 months were agreed.