Industrial Relations : Germany

89.5 percent of the 36 million gainfully employed persons in Germany are wage and salary earners, i.e. employees, civil servants, and trainees or apprentices. In addition, there are 3.3 million self-employed, most of whom also have others on the payroll, apart from 488,000 helping family members. Employers include private companies, federal, state and local government authorities, and other public institutions.

Employers and employees cooperate with each other, as they must, but their interests sometimes clash. They then have the right to negotiate collective agreements without interference from the government. The state sets the general conditions by legislation, but it does not lay down how much workers should be paid. This and many other matters - for example holidays - are left to the “social partners”, i.e. the trade unions and employers’ associations, to negotiate themselves.