The declaration of the general binding of collective agreements plays a minor role in Germany compared to other European countries. In particular, the number of extended wage agreements has declined greatly over the last two decades. Because of the declining bargaining coverage, calls for a...

During the last decades, German industrial relations have undergone significant changes leading to a partial erosion and fragmentation of collective bargaining as well - and more fundamentally - to a significant change in power relations and the weakening of trade unions. As a result, wage...

Tarifautonomie und Flächentarifvertrag sind ins Kreuzfeuer der Kritik geraten. Es geht um die Frage, ob auch in Zukunft die zentralen Mindeststandards für Arbeits- und Einkommensbedingungen im Wesentlichen durch branchenbezogene, verbindliche Verbandstarifverträge festgelegt werden sollen...

Deutschland hat sich in den vergangenen zehn Jahren als das Land mit der stärksten Lohnmoderation profiliert. Kaum anderes Land der OECD weist einen so geringen Anstieg der Lohnstückkosten auf und hat lohnpolitisch so sehr unter seinen Verhältnissen gelebt. Hintergrund dieser Entwicklung ist...

Since the mid-1990s the German system of collective bargaining with its traditional dominance of sector-level agreements has been faced by a process of creeping erosion. While the bargaining coverage has shown a steady decline, a far-reaching decentralisation has increasingly undermined the...

Since the mid-1980s Germany saw a continuing increase of precarious employment which now amounts to about one third of the total labour force. Considering the negative social side-effects of this development, the voices which call for a re-regulation of the labour market have become more...

Collective bargaining in the German metal and electrical engineering (M+E) industries has undergone a phase of considerable development since the 1990s. The profound changes which underwent collective bargaining in M+E over the last two decades have to be regarded against the background of a new...