Telekom Union agrees to new contract
Bonn. · Telekom and Verdi meet in the middle in a day of successful negotiations.
Deutsch Telekom and worker’s union Verdi agreed to a new contract in the fourth round of negotiations on Wednesday. It applies to 63,000 employees and trainees of Telekom. Workers will receive a raise of 2.2 percent, retroactive from April 1, 2016 and a second raise of 2.1 percent on April 1 of 2017. This gives them a total of 4.3 percent over two years.
Verdi had initially negotiated for a 5 percent raise in one year, and Telekom had offered a total raise of 2.8 percent over two years. Another part of the new contract was centered around lay-offs. A stipulation was agreed upon that will protect workers from any company lay-offs through the end of 2018. Lead negotiator for the employer, Martin Seiler says the agreement will give more security to workers for the next years. Verdi negotiator Michael Halberstadt was satisfied with the result as well. It represents a real increase in wages for all employees and gives them needed security for the future.
Negotiators also agreed to simplify and streamline wages for Telekom workers across Germany. These should be structured as similarly as possible to the system at Telekom headquarters in Bonn. Seiler, who is also the head of Telekom personnel, says now workers can concentrate on the future challenges facing the company. “Digitalization in the industry leads to big changes throughout our company.” (Orig. text: Claudia Mahnke)
