Collective Negotiations on Making Tariff Contractsand Production Agreements in Germany

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of complicated and interesting aspects of conducting collective negotiationson concluding tariff contracts and production agreements in the Federal Republic of Germany.The author scrutinizes the principle of freedom of association and the principle of tariff autonomy whichserve as a basis for the legal regulation of collective negotiations. The author does not reduce to theGerman legislation regulating collective negotiations but compares them to the international standardsof labour law and EU law, with an emphasis on Council Directive 94/45 On the Establishment of a EuropeanWorks Council. The paper touches upon specific features of the special status of the members ofthe employers’ association. Many German associations have stipulated in their constituent documentsthat their members are entitled to a special status and the tariff contracts made by the employers’ associationdo not spread to it but the employers’ association provides the same services as to its membersand the organization with a special status is to pay member fees. The author does not reveal the featuresof the special status of the member of the employers’ associations but points to the opinion of theFederal Labour Code which studied the case as to the legality of including new similar provisions to thecharters of employers’ associations. The author studies the trends and perspectives in the developmentof the system of the regulation of labour relations in regulating labour relations in Germany and accompanyingdisputes. On the one hand, the decentralization of collective contracts result in the issueshaving been regulated by tariff agreements have become the subject matter of industrial agreementsconcluded at the lever of a company. However, as EU law increases its influence on the German legalsystem and a large number of transnational corporations emerge, industrial agreements are concludedregulating the working conditions in both Germany and other EU countries. The article may be of interestfor specialists an a wide range of readers interested in social partnership and German labour law.