Warning strike in supermarkets
How much sellers earn
By Christina Lohner
February 16, 2024, 6:23 p.m
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The training is popular, but the subsequent pay is well below average. Retail workers are once again stopping their jobs. Verdi is calling for uniform wages for the entire industry – this is far from the case.
The goods they sell now cost a third more than they did three years ago. At the same time, most retail workers receive comparatively low wages. Verdi has therefore been demanding a salary increase of 13 percent, at least 400 euros more per month – for almost a year now, and collective bargaining has been stuck. On Friday, sellers across the country stopped working again; Edeka was particularly targeted by the union. And the next weeks of action are already planned, before Easter.
Most recently, according to the employment agency, the average gross salary (median) of salespeople was 2,635 euros full-time – half earn more, half earn less. A quarter came to a maximum of 2,140 euros in 2022, a quarter to at least 3,305 euros. An analysis by the trade union-affiliated Hans Böckler Foundation from the same year shows significantly lower figures: the average salary after ten years of employment was 2,190 euros full-time. Young professionals earned an average of 1,930 euros, after 20 years it was 2,280 euros.
For comparison: Across all sectors, the job portal Stepstone calculated a median salary of around 3,670 euros per month for a full-time position for 2022. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the average salary of full-time employees in Germany was a good 4,100 euros in April of that year.
Under 2000 to over 5000 euros
According to the Böckler Foundation, female salespeople earned an average of 210 euros less than their male colleagues. According to the employment agency, the difference in the median salary was 485 euros full-time. According to Verdi, two thirds of employees in retail are female. The pay group also plays a decisive role in the salary differences; according to the union, the majority of employees are classified in the two lower groups. Depending on the region, the hourly wage is between the minimum wage and 17.44 euros.
Because the regional differences are also large. According to the Böckler Foundation, the range of average salaries ranged from 1,970 euros in Thuringia to 2,290 euros in Baden-Württemberg. In North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, which is in tenth place in the ranking of the federal states, the standard wages in the lower salary group, i.e. for trained salespeople and cashiers, started at just under 1,940 euros in the first year of employment. From the sixth year onwards, employees were entitled to a good 2,830 euros. In the highest group of managers, the collective agreement provided for between 3,846 and 5,252 euros after the fifth year.
However, collective bargaining coverage has declined sharply. Of the approximately 3.5 million employees in retail, only a quarter work in companies subject to collective agreements, as Verdi announced in response to an inquiry from ntv.de. The spokeswoman emphasizes that employees who are not bound by collective agreements earn up to 30 percent less. In the ongoing negotiations, the union is calling for the collective agreements to be declared generally binding. Then all employers in the industry would be bound by it, not just the members of the collective bargaining parties. Until the end of the 1990s, the main collective agreements in retail were still generally binding, according to union information.
Almost two thirds advise against their profession
The employers recently offered around ten percent more wages, but for a period of two years – the employee representatives are demanding a collective agreement that is valid for one year. Although this does not apply nationwide, negotiations take place regionally. However, the first regional agreement is usually adopted for the remaining tariff regions.
However, in the current collective bargaining round, more and more companies decided not to wait any longer for an agreement but to pay higher salaries independently: Rewe was followed by Aldi, Lidl, Kaufland and the Otto Group. However, the union members are not satisfied with this – a saleswoman now receives 92 cents more, Verdi is demanding 2.50 euros more per hour. Voluntary increases are not a solution anyway, but rather legally binding collective agreements. Employers, on the other hand, point to the general reluctance to buy and complain about the union’s lack of willingness to negotiate.
The job is still in demand among young people, and it appears at the top of popular apprenticeships. However, this changes with the years you work: salespeople in retail often find their job interesting and varied, especially dealing with people, reports the Böckler Foundation. But many felt underpaid and suffered from the working hours and stress. 63 percent therefore advised against their profession.