Union calls for minimum wage in waste sector to be extended

The minimum wage for the care sector, a sector minimum wage that was established before the implementation of the national minimum wage, has been extended to cover a wider range of workers. The group of workers now covered are those who provide home care and help for those with dementia. As of 1 October their minimum hourly rate in the former west Germany is €9.40, rising to €9.75 on 1 January 2016 and then €10.20 from 1 January 2017. For those in the former east Germany the current rate is €8.65 rising to €9.00 on 1 January 2016 and then €9.50 in 2017. Services union ver.di welcomes the

The service union ver.di has been negotiating with the VKA municipal employers’ organisation and BDE private employers’ association to agree a minimum wage for the waste sector. The union wants to use the Posted Workers legislation to ensure that minimum rates of pay apply across the industry and has initially called for a €8.02 minimum for workers who sort rubbish for recycling. It will propose specific rates for other workers such as refuse collectors and drivers. Ver.di argues that establishing minimum rates in this way is vital to tackle the trend among employers to operate outside

The ver.di services union is to negotiate a sectoral minimum wage to cover the waste sector. Both the BDE private employers' association and local government employers (VKA) have agreed to talks. The union wants to ensure that current pay levels are protected by an industry-wide agreement. It says that while virtually all 90,000 municipal workers in the sector are covered by a collective agreement only 20,000 of the 70,000 private sector employees have the same protection. [Read more at > ver.di (DE)->http://presse.verdi.de/pressemitteilungen/showNews?id=640e8f28-62c7-11dc-51f4-0019b9e321cd]