Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) announces a significant minimum wage increase for 2024. "Work must be worthwhile," Heil told Bild am Sonntag, according to a preliminary report. "That's why there will be another minimum wage increase next January. I expect a significant increase." The Minimum Wage Commission will make him a proposal in the summer. Heil justified a noticeable increase in the minimum wage with high inflation and ordinary wage increases, which would be reflected in the determination of the minimum wage.
The Minimum Wage Commission submits a proposal to the government every two years. Most recently, the minimum wage was increased from 1.10 euros to twelve euros per hour on 45 October. This one-off step was decided by the government and not by the commission set up specifically for this purpose.
Less burden for parcel couriers
In addition, Heil wants to improve the working conditions of parcel couriers and enforce a ban on parcels over 20 kilograms. "Parcels weighing more than 20 kilograms will then have to be delivered by freight forwarders with two people in the future," said Heil. "This is about the health of people who make our everyday lives easier with their work and keep the country running."
Many parcel couriers would get herniated discs. "That's why I want to ensure that parcels weighing more than 20 kilograms no longer have to be dragged by one person alone." The service trade union Verdi had also called for such a weight limit. For parcels from ten kilograms, there should be a labelling obligation in the future, "so that the messenger immediately sees what he can expect."
Heil wants to enforce this in the amendment of the Postal Act, on which the Federal Ministry of Economics is currently working. He expects Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) to present the draft this year. The Postal Services Act was last fundamentally revised in 1999 – at a time when letters were much more important than they are today and parcels played only a minor role.
Heil referred to the great growth of the parcel industry. "From 2017 to 2021, the number increased from 2.6 to 4.5 billion parcels." It is also convenient "to buy everything online from the sofa and have it delivered to the front door". His family also orders online, the minister said. "So I benefit from it and don't want to criticize it. But we also have to deal with the question of what happens to the workers who haul a heavy package to the 5th floor."
Fewer cleaners should work at night
Better working conditions should also apply to cleaners in federal authorities in the future. "In my ministry, cleaners no longer have to work at night. I want to make this the standard in all federal agencies. Seeing who cleans up their own dirt is good for everyone," Heil said.
Currently, cleaners often have to work at night. "Often with consequences for health and family and with the consequence that you no longer see them. And that their work is less appreciated because it supposedly happens as if by magic. But they are people who scrub there at very stressful times."
Collective Bargaining Act for Federal Contracts
Furthermore, Heil wants to award contracts of the federal government in the future only to companies that pay according to tariffs. "By June, I will present a bill with Economics Minister Robert Habeck, which prescribes compliance with collective bargaining agreements at federal level," he said. If the federal government commissions construction work, cleaning activities are awarded or an event is organized, then the contracts may only be awarded to companies that comply with the collective agreement. "The federal contractors must grant their employees all the provisions of the industry collective agreement – from wage levels to allowances and holidays to Christmas bonuses. If we as a state spend tax money, then entrepreneurs who do not pay their people properly must no longer benefit from it," said Heil.
The law should, "if everything goes well in the Bundestag", come into force on 1 January 2024. In the coalition agreement, the SPD, Greens and FDP had agreed in autumn 2021 to make the award of public contracts dependent on companies paying according to tariffs. The coalition wants to achieve that more employees fall under collective agreements.
Collective bargaining has been declining for many years. According to the Federal Statistical Office, around 54 percent of employees in western Germany were covered by sectoral or company collective agreements in 2021, 22 percentage points less than in 1998. In the East, the collective bargaining of employees fell from 63 to 45 percent.