There has been a breakthrough in collective bargaining for around 330,000 municipal daycare workers and other employees in social professions. The Verdi trade union and the civil servants’ association dbb agreed on Wednesday evening with the municipal employers on additional days off and monthly allowances for the employees. This was announced by the collective bargaining partners after around twelve hours of consultations in Berlin.

After two unsuccessful rounds of negotiations in February and March, the unions sat down again with the municipal employers on Monday. On Tuesday afternoon, the talks were moved from Potsdam to Berlin for logistical reasons. At the start of the negotiations, Verdi had threatened a “massive increase in strikes” in the event that no agreement was reached by Wednesday. There had already been warning strikes in large parts of Germany in the past few weeks.

The aim of the unions is to achieve better wages and working conditions for the around 330,000 municipal daycare workers and other employees in social professions – especially with regard to classification and the daily workload.

The relief in everyday work is considered the “crux” of the negotiations. The trade unions are aiming for more staff in municipal social and educational services in the long term and are demanding that employers compensate for staff shortages by providing employees with additional rest periods.

One of the negotiators, the President of the Association of Municipal Employers (VKA) Karin Welge, had emphasized at the start on Monday that employers were willing to compromise. However, she rejects blanket claims. “We cannot afford a general upgrade in the sense that each pay group gets more,” Welge said. “That would mean that we might have fewer people afterwards because the municipal budgets cannot bear the financial consequences.” Especially with a view to the effects of the Ukraine war and higher energy prices, municipal employers should be able to offer “reliable structures”, explained the VKA President.