Craftsmen group warns traffic light because of higher minimum wages - certain companies may be disadvantaged

Created: 01/02/2022, 02:36 PM

Olaf Scholz wants a minimum wage of 12 euros (archive picture) © Kay Nietfeld / dpa

In the election campaign, Chancellor Scholz spoke a lot about respect - and the minimum wage.

This in the amount of twelve euros should come soon.

But some fear discrimination.

Berlin - For Olaf Scholz (SPD) it is a very important topic that is to come with the traffic light government: the minimum wage of twelve euros.

But not everyone is enthusiastic about the plans: The building cleaning trade, for example, has spoken out in favor of postponing the new federal government's minimum wage plans.

The planned increase to twelve euros hourly wages should not come into force before 2023, demanded Federal Guild Master Thomas Dietrich.

If the new lower wage limit were introduced earlier, those companies would be at a disadvantage, some of which would have to adhere to long-term customer contracts.

Minimum wage in Germany: building cleaners want postponement

The background to this is the collectively agreed minimum wage for building cleaners, which rose to EUR 11.55 at the beginning of the year and is expected to reach EUR 12 in 2023.

The largest German craft sector with 700,000 employees had agreed on this with IG Bauen Agrar Umwelt (IG BAU).

The building cleaners would lose their wage advantage over the previous statutory minimum wage (previously planned 9.82 euros from 1/1/2022 and 10.45 euros from 1/7/2022) if it were implemented quickly.

They would also have to adjust to higher demands from the union in order to restore the old distance.

Traffic light wants to present minimum wage law soon - debate over twelve euros is ongoing

According to the Federal Statistical Office, around 7.2 million employees in Germany would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage to twelve euros.

Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) wants to present a law for an increase this year at the beginning of the year.

But there is still a dispute about the step to a minimum wage of twelve euros.

DGB board member Stefan Körzell demanded at the turn of the year: "The coalition must get the twelve euros off the ground quickly in 2022, because in the usual procedure of the minimum wage commission we would only get this amount at the end of the decade." Wanting to examine a lawsuit against a statutory increase in the minimum wage.

Employer President Rainer Dulger had criticized the government's twelve-euro plans as a “gross violation of collective bargaining autonomy”.