Germany: Collective bargaining coverage falls

Less than 60% of the German workforce was covered by a sectoral collective agreement in 2006, according to survey findings recently published by the IAB institute, part of the Federal Labour Agency.

The survey, conducted regularly by the IAB since 1993 and embracing some 16,000 establishments, found that in 2006 coverage of the workforce by sectoral collective agreements – the "classic" form of collective bargaining in Germany – had declined to 57% in western Germany and 41% in the east.