Florian Boilott Severely beaten by company boss: Employees in front of KaDeWe in Westcity, Westbelin
Retail workers breathed a sigh of relief. After a hard-fought battle and a year-long dispute with the trade association, a collective agreement was reached. “Our colleagues are once again protected by a legally binding collective agreement across the country,” said Silke Zimmer, trade officer for the Verdi trade union. The pay raise that was ultimately achieved was a union success after a near-deadlock with the salespeople. Unfortunately, it applies to less than a quarter of the industry’s employees.
According to the federal government’s response to a small survey conducted by the Left Group in the Bundestag, only 22.9 percent of retail employees currently work for companies with a collective agreement. Ten years ago, this figure was 38.2 percent, the Federal Employment Ministry said, referring to data from the Federal Employment Agency’s Institute for Labour Markets and Occupational Research (IAB). As a result, almost a third (31.8 percent) of retail workers are still working in the low-paying sector, more than twice as much as the economy as a whole (15.3 percent). After all, the share of low-paid workers in retail has fallen by five percentage points since 2014.
Twenty years ago, more than three-quarters of employees would have been paid collectively. But “employers have systematically avoided collective bargaining for more than 20 years,” Verdi board member Silke Zimmer explained Monday. jW. Current industry collective agreements are “substandard and shameful”. As a result, employees are often “at risk of poverty, despite working and living in poverty in old age”. The minimum wage should be increased along with the next increase, “because the loss of purchasing power for employees is enormous”. According to EU directives, the minimum wage is currently €14, says Zimmer. Verdi calls for a generally binding collective agreement for all companies in the industry, “so that we can stop the destructive cut-throat competition that is harming retail workers”.
The gap between employees who participate in collective bargaining and those who are not bound by collective bargaining is clear. As the Ministry of Labour’s response shows, there is a difference of around 500 euros in monthly salaries. The conditions in the industry are already “characterized by precarious employment,” summed up Left MEP Susanne Ferschl. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the share of employees covered by social security contributions will fall from 81 percent in 2022 to 80.7 percent in 2023. At the same time, 60 percent of employees are part-time workers, which is “above average,” the Left office noted. According to the government, more than 12 percent of all employees receiving citizen benefits (so-called supplements) are employed in retail.
As the Hubertus Heil government department’s response shows, there is a clear East-West wage gap in retail pay. In Brandenburg, collective bargaining employees earned on average €19.44, while in Hamburg they earned €12 per hour more. The average monthly gross wage of employees under a collective agreement last year was €3,796, while in retail it was €2,952. Even in the East, it was about €200 less than in the West. East German women, who were not covered by a collective agreement, earned the least, with a monthly gross of €2,682.
Susanne Ferschl explained on Monday that “collective bargaining agreements in the retail sector are falling apart and the federal government has done nothing so far.” The industry’s conditions are summed up in “precarious working conditions and poor wages.” The Left Union and Labour Market Policy said that “instead of maintaining a pen pal relationship with the Minimum Wage Commission, the Minister of Labour should change the minimum wage law and impose a floor of 60% of median earnings in line with the EU directive.” The spokesperson was furious.
