The legal basis of collective bargaining in Austria is laid down by the Labour Constitution Act (ArbVG). According to the ArbVG, collective agreements can be concluded only between collective organisations of employers and employees. Therefore, the Austrian labour law systematically benefits multi
The legal basis of collective bargaining in Germany is laid down by the Collective Agreements Act, 1949. Collective agreements can be concluded between employer associations (or individual employers) and trade unions. In contrast, works councils – statutory employee representation bodies elected at
The German Federation of Trade Unions (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB) held its founding congress in Munich on 12-14 October 1949, establishing a "peak" organisation for the 16 industry-level union federations existing at that time in west Germany. In October 1999, DGB returned to Munich to
In July 1999 the central German social partner organisations - the German Federation of Trade Unions (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB) and the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (Bundesvereinigung der deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände, BDA) - agreed a joint declaration (DE9907219F [1])
On 13 October 1999, during talks between Klaus Zwickel, the president of the IG Metall metalworkers' union, and Walter Riester, the Federal Minister of Labour, both parties agreed in principle on a concept for early retirement at the age of 60. The basic idea is that, from the age of 60, older
On 19 October 1999, between 60,000 and 70,000 public service employees went to Berlin to demonstrate against government plans to limit pay increases for Germany's 2 million or so career public servants (Beamte) to the level of inflation over the next two years. The federal government had already
On 10-11 September 1999, in the German city of Haltern, more than 60 leading representatives of trade unions from Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands held their third joint annual meeting. They evaluated the 1999 collective bargaining rounds in the countries involved and discussed
On 20 April 1999, the first senate of the German Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht, BAG) issued a judgment (/1 ABR 72/98/) which acknowledged the right of trade unions to bring court cases against employers which they accuse of operating a company arrangement that contravenes a collective
In July 1999, the Federal Statistical Office (Statistisches Bundesamt) published new figures on the development of annual incomes in the manufacturing sector. According to the statistics, a full-time employee in manufacturing earned an average of DEM 68,646 in 1998, including collectively agreed
On 21 June 1999, the temporary employment agency Adecco Personaldienstleistungen GmbH and a bargaining cartel of six trade unions signed a "collective agreement on the hiring-out of labour on the occasion of the EXPO 2000 world exhibition" (Tarifvertrag zur Arbeitnehmerüberlassung anläßlich der
In July 1999, the collective agreement archive of the Institute for Economic and Social Research (Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliches Institut, WSI) within the Hans-Böckler Foundation published an interim report on the 1999 collective bargaining round ("Die Drei vor dem Komma. Eine
On 6 July 1999, leading representatives of the federal government, trade unions and employers' associations (see the annex at the end of this record for details of the participants) met officially, chaired by the Federal Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, for the third round of top-level talks within the