In the opinion of the Social Democrats, the public sector should not have to make tendering competitions at the expense of wages.
(Photo: imago images/photothek)
Berlin The SPD wants to introduce a collective bargaining agreement for public contracts from the federal government as quickly as possible – and in doing so, orientate itself, among other things, on the Saarland model. This is what it says in a position paper that the party executive wants to decide on this Monday. “We need more performance justice and respect for those who work a lot but have so far received too little wages,” said Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) to the Handelsblatt.
A higher minimum wage of twelve euros is an important first step, but it is not enough. “More proper collective agreements are needed,” says Heil, because only 48 percent of employees still work under the umbrella of a collective agreement.
That is why the SPD, Greens and FDP agreed in the coalition agreement that the federal government should only be allowed to award contracts to companies that adhere to representative collective agreements in the respective industry. According to the SPD paper, the “pioneering” tariff loyalty law from Saarland, which came into force in December 2021, could serve as a model.
>> Read here: Fewer and fewer employees work under a collective agreement – respondents want more involvement from the state
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There, the state government will stipulate the relevant core working conditions from the applicable industry collective agreements by statutory order. Companies then not only have to pay a minimum wage, for example, but also take into account the tariff groups, allowances or holiday regulations.
WSI sees great benefits
From the point of view of the awarding authorities and the companies, the Saarland way of the ordinance has great advantages compared to clauses in compliance with collective agreements in procurement laws of other federal states such as Thuringia or Berlin. According to a statement by the WSI research institute, which is close to the trade union, there is “neither any ambiguity about the relevant collective agreement nor about the interpretation of the applicable collective agreement provisions”.
“The public sector should not have to hold tendering competitions at the expense of wages,” Saarland Minister of Labor and Economics and Deputy Prime Minister Anke Rehlinger told the Handelsblatt. With a law on adherence to collective agreements, as is the case in Saarland, the market power of the state becomes “a lever to increase collective bargaining again because evading collective bargaining is no longer worthwhile,” emphasized the deputy SPD chairwoman.
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