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The SPD politician calls for the publication of all salaries
The SPD politician Manuela Schwesig calls for the publication of salaries in Germany. Their goal: Equal pay for work of equal value.
How much money do you actually earn?
This question is a taboo in Germany. How much money we have on our account at the end of the month - that's not talked about. Either because we are contractually silent, or because we fear envy. You do not talk about money, so Germans often learn it from childhood.
"Equal pay for equal work and equal work - unfortunately, this is not a matter of course - on the contrary, there are big differences in Germany, especially women are disadvantaged."
This writes the Federal Minister for Family Affairs Manuela Schwesig (SPD) on her Facebook page. Less money for women, lack of transparency in salaries from colleagues - all that the politician wants to change for us. She is calling for a law these days that should oblige companies to publish the salaries of their employees.
Post by Manuela Schwesig.Never talk about our salary - this attitude causes us to get unfair wages, that a colleague who does the same as us deserves more because he appeared stronger in the negotiation with the boss and more consistently demanded more salary.
If we knew how much the people around us deserved, we would have a strong argument in the salary negotiation. No wonder that the bosses would rather not disclose the salaries.
So we rely on spongy estimates, which are rarely sufficient basis for an estimate of an appropriate salary s especially in our company .
Critics of the bill suggest that this initiative would bring massive bureaucratic burdens. After women's quota and minimum wage, they do not want more legal requirements. Such a regulation would lead to a "climate of mistrust, " said a representative of the Central Association of German crafts.
Also, the Union expresses very negative: "Such ideas, Ms. Schwesig would rather make-up again, " said the CDU politician Christian von Stetten.
We think: Exactly the opposite would be the case. Where employees today feel powerless, they would be strengthened in the future by knowledge. So far unfair salaries could finally be negotiated fairly. And finally, it would finally be over, with the uncertainty felt by every worker who always hears rumors about how much the colleagues earn.
More transparency = more fairness in our salaries = less mistrust = more satisfaction and motivation among employees.
And because of bureaucracy: Publishing salaries in anonymous Excel spreadsheets would not be half as much work as a standard expense report. In a country where many people are being unfairly paid and have not been able to benefit from collective bargaining for a long time, because companies are no longer living up to their tariffs, this work would be absolutely reasonable and appropriate .
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