Berlin/Munich (dpa/lby) - In Bavaria, less than half of the employees are now paid according to collective agreements. Within ten years, their share has fallen from 60 to 49 percent. That's what the federal government answered to a Bundestag question from the left, which the parliamentary group published on Friday. The number of collective bargaining companies in the Free State fell by 23,000 to 88,000, a drop of a good twenty percent. The "Augsburger Allgemeine" had previously reported.
There is a very significant difference between small and large companies: a majority of 70 percent of companies with more than 200 employees still conclude collective agreements, but this is the exception for smaller companies. The decline in collective bargaining coverage in Bavaria was therefore also more pronounced than the national average.
Collective agreements led to higher wages, better working conditions and shorter working hours, explained Susanne Ferschl, the deputy leader of the left in the Bundestag. "It is all the more frightening that in Bavaria the collective bargaining agreement is in free fall and not even half of the employees work in companies that are bound by collective bargaining agreements."
The DGB blames an increase in low-wage jobs for the development. Around one million employees have recently earned less than the nationwide low wage threshold of 11.21 euros per hour, explained DGB state chairman Bernhad Stiedl. Both the DGB and the left demanded a Bavarian collective bargaining law from the state government.
