Frankfurt am Main – In companies in the metal and electrical industry with a collective agreement, women earn almost 11 euros an hour more than women who do not benefit from collective agreements. The pay gap between men and women is thus 9 percentage points lower than in companies without a collective agreement. This is the result of an analysis by the union with current figures from the Federal Statistical Office for International Women’s Day on March 8th.
“Collective agreements are a guarantee of equality, because they demonstrably narrow the pay gap,” demands Christiane Benner, Deputy Chairwoman of IG Metall. This can have positive effects on women’s participation in the labor market and thus remedy one of the most pressing problems in the current working world: “Those are two f-words that you should always pronounce: shortage of skilled workers and women. If you want skilled workers, you can’t do without women!”
By comparison, across society as a whole, women earn 18 percent less than men. But even with the same qualifications and job, the so-called gender pay gap is still 7 percent.
According to IG Metall, collective agreements not only reduce the pay gap, but also promote the participation of women in the labor force with a view to full and part-time quotas. According to figures from the Federal Employment Agency, female employees in the branches of IG Metall work relatively more often full-time than in the economy as a whole. Between 2013 and 2022, the number of full-time women employed here increased by half more than in the rest of the economy: by 9.3 percent instead of 6.6 percent.
“We are successful in creating working conditions through collective agreements and company agreements that enable women to work full-time or close to full-time. This is why full-time employment of women has increased more in our organizational area than in the economy as a whole,” says Christiane Benner, explaining this development. “That’s good! But real compatibility requires models that allow work and family to be combined.”
It would be a mistake to assume that women in particular want to work part-time permanently. Many of them would like to increase their working hours. To this end, the union calls for flexible working time arrangements that enable men and women to achieve a work-life balance based on partnership. Benner: “Anyone who wants more women cannot do without unions, co-determination and collective agreements.”
Co-determination and the high degree of union organization (percentage of union members in the workforce) play a decisive role in the metal and electrical industry being able to occupy such an exemplary position. The works council elections in 2022 once again increased the proportion of women on the committees. Co-determination means more equality – and must therefore be promoted and expanded.
Additional Information:
A special evaluation of figures from the Federal Employment Agency for the organizational area of IG Metall (June 2013 – June 2022) shows:
Increase in part-time employees:
Organizational area of IG Metall: women + 29.9%, men + 70.8%
Overall economy: women + 30.5%, men + 70.0%
Increase in full-time employees:
Organizational area of IG Metall: women + 9.3%, men + 6.0%
Overall economy: women + 6.6%, men + 11%
part-time employment:
Percentage of women working part-time in the organizational area of IG Metall: 31%
Percentage of women working part-time in the overall economy: 49.6%
Proportion of men working part-time in the organizational area of IG Metall: 4.7%
Percentage of men working part-time in the economy as a whole: 12.6%