No solution to the tariff dispute
The HDE trade association advises companies to increase wages
September 18, 2023, 3:47 p.m
Verdi and retail employers have been fighting for higher wages for months. Both sides accuse each other of blocking the negotiations. After 50 rounds of negotiations, the HDE trade association is now making a non-binding proposal to companies.
In the deadlocked collective bargaining dispute in the retail sector, the industry association HDE recommends that companies initially increase salaries for employees, even without a collective agreement. The German Trade Association (HDE) announced in Berlin that it is not foreseeable that the collective bargaining negotiations will reach a solution in a timely manner.
According to a decision by the HDE collective bargaining committee, companies bound by collective bargaining agreements now have the opportunity to pay out “voluntary, creditable advance increases of 5.3 percent” from October 1st at the earliest, it said. “Companies can implement this advance increase, which includes collectively agreed wages, salaries and trainee remuneration, in all retail tariff areas from October 2023.”
Depending on their own economic situation, each company must decide for itself whether it can implement the association’s recommendation, the HDE said. “There is no obligation for companies to implement this exactly and in full. It is only obligatory in terms of its upper limit.” The association is committed to finding a solution to the collective bargaining dispute.
Verdi wants 2.50 euros more per hour
For months, the Verdi union and retail employers nationwide have been fighting for a new collective agreement. Verdi is calling for an increase in hourly rates by a uniform 2.50 euros for a term of 12 months. The employers made different offers depending on the federal state.
The HDE accused Verdi of taking a blockade stance. “Unfortunately, even after more than five months with over 50 rounds of negotiations nationwide, the Verdi union is turning a blind eye to the now long-overdue settlement of this collective bargaining dispute for the benefit of retail employees,” said HDE collective bargaining manager Steven Haarke. Instead, the union is sticking to its “utopian initial demands”.
Verdi, for his part, accused the employers of blocking the negotiations with a lack of willingness to compromise. There was initially no response from Verdi regarding the HDE’s recommendation to pay more money without a collective agreement.
REWE Group pays employees more money
The Rewe Group then announced that it would increase the wages and salaries of employees at Rewe, Penny, Lekkerland and toom Baumarkt from October onwards, despite the pending collective agreement in wholesale and retail. In retail, employees should receive 5.3 percent more money and in wholesale 5.1 percent more money, as the Rewe Group announced in Cologne.
Exactly how many employees will receive the increase was not initially known. “The percentage values correspond to the current status of employer offers for 2023 in the retail and wholesale sectors and therefore also to the respective recommendations of the trade associations,” it said. A later collective agreement will be fully implemented.
The amounts already paid out through the advance increase would be taken into account. The company cited the fact that some of the employees had been waiting for an agreement in the collective bargaining dispute for almost six months as the reason for the voluntary increase.