Germany
As from 1 January 2010 employees in the waste sector including street cleaning workers have been covered by a legal sectoral minimum wage set at €8.02 an hour until 31 October 2010. Services union ver.di has won agreement from the BDE private sector employers’ and the VKA municipal employers’ organisations to discuss how to maintain the minimum beyond 31 October 2010.
Read more at > ver.di (DE)
Ver.di has welcomed the government’s decision to implement a minimum wage of €8.02 an hour in the waste sector. The union had been concerned that the new coalition, involving the FDP liberal party, that came to power last year would not fulfil the commitment of the previous government to introduce a minimum wage for the sector. However, federal employment minister Ursula von der Leyen signed the regulation in December so that it would come into effect in January. Ver.di estimates that around 20,000 workers are likely to be better off with some having been employed on wages as low as €4 an hour
Following negotiations between services union ver.di and the VKA public and BDE private sector employers, the minimum wage in the waste sector will increase from €8.86 an hour to €8.94 on 1 July. There will be a further increase to €9.10 on 1 January 2016. Around 20000 workers in the sector will benefit from these increases. This is above the national minimum wage of €8.50. Read more at > ver.di (DE)
In response to the opening up of the labour market to countries from Eastern Europe, the ÖGB trade union confederation has secured an agreement with the employers to monitor pay rates and ensure that employers are paying at least the minimum rates set in sectoral agreements. There is no legal minimum wage but very high levels of collective bargaining coverage. Unions and employers have called on the authorities to take on more employees to ensure that pay can be effectively monitored. [Read more at > vida (DE)->http://www.vida.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=S03/Page/Index&n=S03_0.a&cid
