Schulten, Thorsten / Bispinck, Reinhard : Decentralisation of German Collective Bargaining? Current Trends and Assessments from a Works and Staff Council's Perspective
Against the background of the ongoing debate on the future of Germany's branch-level bargaining system, this paper analyses current developments in German collective bargaining. Using the results of the 2002 WSI Works and Staff Council Survey, it presents recent data on collective bargaining coverage, the extent of offences against valid agreements, the use of opening-clauses in branch-level agreements and on the spread of so-called "company pacts for employment and competitiveness. Recent developments in remuneration policy at company level are examined regarding performance and profit- related pay and payments above the collectively agreed rate. Finally, this paper addresses the questions of how works and staff councillors assess the current trendtowards decentralisation of collective bargaining and what from their point of view are the most important issues for collective bargaining in the forthcoming years.