Germany
The DGB trade union confederation has reacted positively to a number of the measures included in the agreement to establish a ruling coalition between the CDU/CSU centre rights parties and the social democrats (SPD). The introduction of a statutory minimum wage at €8.50 an hour from 1 January 2015 is one of the main elements endorsed by the confederation, although it is not so happy about the rate being frozen until 2018. The DGB is also pleased that there are proposals to facilitate the extension of collective agreements and to open up the scope of the posted workers' legislation to all sectors and thereby provide at least the guarantee of minimum pay rates in collective agreements. Other policies seen as positive by the DGB, although necessarily completely adequate, include rights to part-time work for carers, measures to reduce the gender pay gap and regulation of agency work. The DGB underlines the fact that all these are proposals and it will be important to monitor how they are actually implemented in practice. The agreement has also yet to be endorsed by the SPD membership.
Read more at > DGB (DE)
