In 2010, Germany’s Federal Labor Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht) abolished the principle of collective bargaining unity, commonly referred to as “Tarifeinheit” (“One business, one collective agreement”). As a consequence, since then it has been possible that two different collective bargaining agreements applied for the same group of employees within the same operation. This ruling is supposed to be the major reasons why there have been more strikes in the last couple of months in Germany than ever before.
Germany: Act on Collective Bargaining Unity in Force
