German inflation reached 7.9% in May, its highest level since 1973. This increase, which mainly affects energy prices, has become a top concern for the population and businesses. The political urgency is such that Chancellor Olaf Scholz has launched an unusual proposal: a “concerted action” with the State and the social partners, in order to limit the rise in prices. The initiative is surprising. It is an attack on a fundamental principle of social relations in business in Germany: tariff autonomy, which means that the state does not have to interfere in wage negotiations between employers and unions.
Wednesday 1er June, in a speech before Parliament, the Chancellor explained this idea, taking care to circumscribe its scope. This is a “targeted effort in an exceptional situation”, he pointed out. The idea is to distribute the consequences of inflation as equitably as possible between economic players. If this type of meeting may seem usual in France, it runs counter to German traditions, where the level of wages results from a very coded confrontation between employers’ federation and unions, which see in these negotiations the basis of their legitimacy and their power. .
No overflowing enthusiasm
Unsurprisingly, the social partners did not express overwhelming enthusiasm. “Salary negotiations are not conducted at the chancellery”, responded Yasmin Fahimi, newly elected head of the federation of major German trade unions, the DGB. Two unions openly expressed their reservations. “The Chancellor may claim the opposite, such an approach is an attack on tariff autonomy. The invitation itself shows that reserve is expected of us in our wage demands,” protested Kristian Loroch, a member of the management of the EVG transport workers’ union. The IG Metall union, currently in consultation for the big round of negotiations in the fall for 3.9 million workers in the metallurgy and electronics industry, recalled Thursday that it hoped for a “net increase in remuneration”.
In the eyes of the government, the current situation seems to justify temporarily abusing the taboo of tariff autonomy
Why does Olaf Scholz, whose party is traditionally close to the unions, take the risk of getting angry with organizations which have also shown in the past their ability to reach reasonable compromises with employers to safeguard employment? The Chancellor seems to want to act quickly in the face of the risk raised in recent days by the Minister of Finance (Christian Lindner, liberal): that of the outbreak of an inflationary spiral that is difficult to control, in a very precarious economic context. For Olaf Scholz, the upcoming negotiations are an important part of the key question: will inflation take hold? Exceptional payments, as recently negotiated in the chemical sector, would make it possible to avoid lasting increases, he judges.
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