Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the COVID-19 crisis, the war in Ukraine, rising inflation, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.
Factsheet for measure DE-2020-14/1517 – measures in Germany
Country |
Germany
, applies locally
|
Time period | Open ended, started on 01 April 2020 |
Context | COVID-19 |
Type | Company practices |
Category |
Measures to prevent social hardship
– Protection of vulnerable groups (beyond employment support) |
Author | Birgit Kraemer (Hans Boeckler Foundation) and Eurofound |
Measure added | 01 December 2020 (updated 07 March 2021) |
Germany's political measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 have hit the countries hotel sector hard. International travel restrictions - followed by national travel restrictions and then a nation-wide accommodation ban - dramatically reduced the number of guests in hotels. The works council and management at Steigenberger Hotel Frankfurt Airport were looking for feasible local arrangements to cushion the effect of the public health measures on employment and wages.
The local works council and management agreed to distribute short-term work equally across employees. Management also agreed to ensure that no employee would face more than a 20% reduction in their salary. Given existing low wage levels in the sector, and sky-rocketing sectoral unemployment during the pandemic, these measures were aimed at preventing social hard ship. The local practice prevented forced lay-offs and ensured that all employees received at least 80% of their pre-pandemic salaries. Negotiating the agreement was particularly difficult given that normal works council meetings were not allowed under social distancing rules.
A Steigenberger hotel works council member stated in an interview in August that the measures would most probably not prevent forced redundancies in case of a second lock-down. Germany entered into a second lock-down in November.
Workers | Businesses | Citizens |
---|---|---|
Employees in standard employment
|
Applies to all businesses | Does not apply to citizens |
Actors | Funding |
---|---|
Company / Companies
|
Employees
Employer National funds |
Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:
Trade unions | Employers' organisations | |
---|---|---|
Role | Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative | No involvement |
Form | Any other form of consultation, institutionalised (as stable working groups or committees) or informal | Not applicable |
Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:
No information.
This case is sector-specific (only private sector)
Economic area | Sector (NACE level 2) |
---|---|
I - Accommodation And Food Service Activities | I55 Accommodation |
This case is not occupation-specific.
Citation
Eurofound (2020), Short-time work at Steigenberger Hotel Frankfurt, measure DE-2020-14/1517 (measures in Germany), EU PolicyWatch, Dublin, https://static.eurofound.europa.eu/covid19db/cases/DE-2020-14_1517.html
19 May 2022
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