Wage Dispute in Public Service: The Fairy Tale of 2.4 Million Heroes

VThere is little orange in the collective bargaining talks over the weekend, the greater the excitement now. “Public employers walled in for two rounds. This means that warning strikes are unavoidable, “said Verdi Chairman Frank Werneke. He wants 4.8 percent more salary for public service employees in the federal and local governments, but at least 150 euros more a month.

The work stoppages begin on Tuesday in the first regions. But which employees are really involved? Is the strike appropriate in the midst of the Corona crisis? After all, they hit the people of all the people who have already had to deal with major disabilities in recent months. And public service is not just public service: Many employees were not particularly challenged during the crisis, critics argue.

The Association of Local Employers Associations (VKA) has compiled an overview of how the more than two million collective bargaining employees are distributed. By far the largest division is management. There are 1.28 million employees here, which is a good 58 percent. In second place are hospitals and healthcare centers with around 422,000 employees (19 percent). They are followed by savings banks with 175,000 and the offer with 113,000 collective bargaining employees. The remaining places are local transportation, waste disposal and airports. An eighth division includes those employees who are not affected by the current round of collective bargaining. This includes local hospital doctors and local transport workers in all federal states except Baden-Württemberg, Lower Saxony, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony.

Are Sparkasse employees heroes too?

The range of professions that are represented in these branches is huge. However, the VKA does not break down the figures and the union does not have the relevant data. The salary scales of public services give an idea of ​​diversity.

Right at the top, in salary group 15, belong, for example, specialists from the health authorities and managers of a municipal company with “considerable responsibility”. At the lower end, for example, there are cloakroom staff and staff at the food counter. Employees of social and educational services, such as social workers, educators, and babysitters, as well as employees of the care service, such as ward directors and nurses, are listed separately.

For the unions, the issue is clear: the public service performed better during the crisis. The applause is not enough, they need recognition in the form of more money. The list of those who are particularly affected by Corona is long. The union can give examples for each branch: some of the nurses and geriatric caregivers were exposed to significant health risks. Employees of the Federal Employment Agency had a lot to do with the historically high number of short-term job applications. Savings bank employees helped ensure the liquidity of the companies. And the garbage disposal had to dispose of unusually large amounts of waste.

“The story of 2.4 million heroes is wrong”

On the other hand, it is just as easy for employers to list counterexamples. “Each of us knows numerous employees who were off work for weeks during the shutdown – the money came on time anyway,” says Niklas Benrath, general manager of the Association of Municipal Employers’ Associations (VKA). Theaters, museums, fairs and sports facilities have been closed for a long time.

Those who worked part-time received 95 percent of their normal salary thanks to the collective agreement. The work has been simplified in some areas. Benrath cites the example of the bus driver no longer selling or controlling tickets due to crown restrictions. “Sometimes there are also individual activities that have just been skipped even though the employees are working,” says Benrath. “The story of the 2.4 million heroes told by the unions, this undoubtedly significant exaggeration of work, is simply wrong.”

Even in nursing there is a “differentiated picture”. In many places, the dreaded rush of crown patients into hospitals failed to materialize and predictable operations were canceled. “As a result, the houses were sometimes very little used, so overtime was reduced, for example,” says Benrath.

“Union has no other choice”

The fact that warning strikes are now being announced in “areas as sensitive as nurseries” shows that “unions have lost their sense of reality.” Benrath asks a question: How do you justify these actions to employees who now have to go back to caring for their children at home? “Many of the employees may be at risk of losing their jobs in the private sector,” he says. That is the difference with public service: “Our jobs are safe.”

Thorsten Schulten, a tariff expert at the union-related Hans Böckler Foundation, does not think the division into heroes and non-heroes is appropriate. “All public service groups help make public life work. It shouldn’t fix that in individual months of closure, ”he says. For him, the ball is clearly on the employer’s side: “The VKA has not submitted an offer. The union has no choice but to generate pressure through strikes. “

Employer-related German economics institute rate expert Hagen Lesch cannot understand the argument with the special achievements of the Crown heroes for the economy in general. “To keep the economy going, you need every worker, from truck drivers to IT employees,” he says. Even in the healthcare sector, he doesn’t find Corona’s argument for raising wages convincing. “This sector must be improved, even through better wages. But that applies regardless of this crisis. “

Are the unions losing the solidarity of parents?

On Monday afternoon, the first places where public service employees will temporarily stop working were known from Tuesday. This also includes day care centers across the country. “These work stoppages are not appropriate in light of the stress many parents are having due to the closure of daycare and school before the summer break,” says Lesch. Expect it to last a very short time. “Otherwise, the unions run the risk that their own members will not respond to the strike call in solidarity with their parents. Then the shot backfires. “

There is another reason why you consider this type of strike to be the wrong means. “Warning strikes in the public service are superfluous because afterwards there is always an arbitration procedure if the two parties do not agree,” he says. If arbitration fails, a general strike or threatening to do so initially, “would be completely sufficient.” For him, there is a clear motive behind this: “Unions want to generate attention and recruit members,” he says. “In any case, this will not give them a better position in the arbitration process.”

The third salary round is scheduled for October 22 and 23. The negotiations are initially for 2.3 million collective bargaining employees; From the point of view of Ver.di and the association of civil servants dbb, the result should then be transferred to the more than 200,000 civil servants. In addition to higher wages, the unions are also calling for East Germany’s longest weekly working hours to be reduced by one hour, and thus for a nationwide adjustment. There are also additional conversations to ease the burden on healthcare employees.