Reform des Tarifvertragsrechts und Änderungen der Verhaltensweisen der Tarifpartner als Voraussetzungen für eine wirksame Bekämpfung der Arbeitslosigkeit

The main causes of unemployment in Germany are the legal conditions affecting the negotiation of pay agreements, the behaviour of the negotiating partners, and the politico-economic environment. Positive approaches to achieving pay agreements that do not put at risk the jobs of the workers currently employed can be seen in the opening clauses of the national agreement for the chemical industry, and in the agreement- guidelines „Phönix“ between the Eastern German employers confederation Ostmetall and the christian metal union. On the other hand, the cases Burda and Viessmann have shown that pay agreements which are negotiated between the board and union representatives within a firm and aim at securing jobs for the employees, are impeded by labour legislation, precedent cases, and the behaviour of the unions. A precondition for flexible local agreements that secure the jobs of the current employees, is that local union representatives are given the autonomy to negotiate working conditions within their company. At present it is not permitted by law (Works Council Constitution Act) to negotiate those conditions locally that are included in the national agreements. Local agreements which differ from national agreements are only permitted if each and every issue in the local agreement is advantageous for the employee. This should be changed to allow a compromise or trade-off between the issues involved. In addition, securing or generating employment should be considered an advantage. In conclusion, national agreements can only be saved - especially when the current unemployment rate is higher than that considered as unavoidable - if the negotiating partners agree on pay increases that are smaller than the productivity increase, taking account of inflation.