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German construction workers, employers agree on wage hike

Xinhua, May 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

German construction workers and employers reached a deal to increase wages over the next 22 months, both sides announced on Wednesday.

After 14 hours of "extremely tough negotiations," the union IG-Bau and two employers' associations agreed to rise wages for some 785,000 workers in the construction sector early on Wednesday, the union said.

Workers in western German states will get a wage increase of 4.6 percent in two stages from May 1, 2016 to February 28, 2018, while those in the east will receive an increase of 5.3 percent.

"It is particularly important that we were able to achieve a noticeable real net wage growth," said Dietmar Schaefers, deputy chairman of the IG-Bau union, "the result is a compromise which was not easy for either side."

"Our employees receive a significant increase in real wages due to the low inflation rate and a fair share of the industry development," said employers' associations ZDB and HDB in a statement.

Last week, workers in German metal industry and employers also agreed a wage raise of 4.8 percent for 3.8 million employees.

Increasing wages, together with weak inflation and falling energy prices, contributed to German households' purchasing power in recent two years, boosting private consumption, the current main driving force of the German economic growth. Endit