Germany: National minimum wage used as bargaining lever

his month has seen another union, the construction and agricultural union IG BAU, using the forthcoming introduction of a nationwide national minimum wage from 1 January 2015 to get a minimum rate for agricultural, horticultural and forestry workers for the first time. The settlement, which covers 750,000 workers, provides for initial minimum rates of €7.40 an hour in West and €7.20 in East Germany from 1 January 2015, rising in stages to €8.60 an hour across Germany in January 2017 and €9.10 in November 2017.

The national minimum wage is set at €8.50 an hour from 1 January 2015, but the legislation introducing the new rules allows previously agreed lower rates to continue in force, provided they match or exceed the €8.50 threshold by 1 January 2017 at the latest. The agricultural deal means that the lowest rates in the sector are increased gradually, rather than going immediately to €8.50 from next January, but at the end of the process they will be higher than the new minimum rate.

• €1 was worth 79p on 21 July 2014