FRANKFURT (Reuters) – A pay increase for tens of thousands of workers at Germany’s public-sector banks has been agreed with management, a labour union said, brightening prospects for a wage deal for the private banks after months of wrangling and strikes.
The deal, sealed on Thursday and announced by the Verdi union on Friday, comes as inflation in Germany hovers above 7% and follows a recent pay deal for thousands of workers at Deutsche Bank’s retail unit Postbank.
Under the deal’s terms, 60,000 public-sector bank employees, such as those who work for Germany’s state-owned Landesbanken and development banks such as KfW, will get a 3% raise from July and a 2% raise a year later.
The deal also includes one-off payments, a one-hour reduction to a 38-hour working week in 2024, and the right to work 40% of the time outside the office.
The bankers had been seeking a 4.5% pay increase in a wage dispute that began last year.
Attention now turns to wage talks for 140,000 workers at the nation’s private banks – such as Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank – who have also been calling for a 4.5% wage increase.
(Reporting by Frank Siebelt; Writing by Tom Sims; Editing by Paul Carrel)
