Status: 05/18/2022 11:14 p.m
There is an agreement in the collective bargaining dispute for municipal daycare workers and other employees in social professions. The trade union ver.di and the civil servants’ association dbb agreed with the employers on more days off and allowances.
The trade union ver.di and the civil servants’ association dbb have agreed with the municipal employers on additional days off and monthly allowances for the employees. This was announced by the collective bargaining partners after around twelve hours of consultation in Berlin. The agreement in the tariff dispute affects around 330,000 municipal daycare workers and other employees in social professions.
According to this, the employees initially receive two additional days off per year and the option to convert part of their salary into a maximum of two additional days off. In addition to the additional days off, educators in municipal public service will receive an additional 130 euros per month from July 1st. For social workers there will also be an additional 180 euros from July.
In addition, the agreement stipulates that professional experience in social and educational services should in future be rewarded in the same way as other employees in the public sector. The time employees stay in one pay grade before moving up to the next is scheduled to be aligned with general public service grades as of October 1, 2024. This means that salaries will rise faster in the future than before. The tariff result has a term of five years until December 31, 2026.
ver.di: Agreement “against considerable resistance”
With the breakthrough, which was initially considered unlikely, further warning strikes in the municipal public social and educational service have been averted for the time being. Employees in all federal states benefit from the new agreement – except in Berlin. According to ver.di, other tariff regulations have priority in the capital. However, the unions assume that the results will also “radiate” to employees in other areas.
“This is thanks to the colleagues in the social and educational services who have fought and gone on strike in the past few days and weeks,” said ver.di chairman Frank Werneke. The agreement was “successful despite considerable resistance from municipal employers,” he said. It is “another significant step to make the professions in the social and educational system more attractive and to take effective action against the shortage of skilled workers.”
dbb negotiator Andreas Hemsing also expressed his satisfaction with the result: “With this degree, we have upgraded the professional field, and our colleagues will feel that directly in their wallets.”
“Challenge for Municipal Employers”
The President of the Association of Municipal Employers’ Associations (VKA), Karin Welge, described the result as a “challenge for municipal employers”. The VKA assumes that the personnel costs of municipal employers will increase by around 3.7 percent annually due to the new allowances alone. Nevertheless, Welge expressed his relief at the conclusion. It is “a clear sign that we recognize the often outstanding performance of our employees in social and educational services with fair and appreciative remuneration,” said Welge.
The unions had been working towards the agreement that had now been reached for weeks. After two unsuccessful rounds of negotiations in February and March, the collective bargaining partners sat down again on Monday. On Tuesday afternoon, the talks were moved from Potsdam to Berlin for logistical reasons. They were supposed to end on Wednesday afternoon – but dragged on for several hours until late in the evening. Participants said that there was still a lot to talk about on the last day.