Working 40 hours a week – and still not enough at the end of the month: in bamberg, around 6100 full-time employees work for low wages. This means that one in five employees (18.8 percent) is below the official low-wage threshold of currently 2203 euros gross per month, despite working full hours. In the district of bamberg, there are around 5200 full-time employees in the low-wage sector (19.4 percent). This was announced by the food, beverage and hospitality workers' union (NGG).
The NGG upper franconia refers to figures from the federal employment agency. Managing director michael grundl speaks of an "alarm signal" in the press release. Thousands of people had enormous problems getting by financially despite long working days. "In butcher stores, bakeries, fast food outlets, restaurants and hotels, the proportion of low-wage employees is particularly high. Here the companies must pay finally clearly higher wages", demands grundl. According to the employment agency, 53 percent of all full-time employees in the food and hospitality industry nationwide are below the low-wage threshold.
According to the NGG union, one of the main reasons for this situation is the dwindling number of collective bargaining agreements. "Fewer and fewer hoteliers and restaurateurs in bamberg pay according to collective wage agreements. Instead of the collectively agreed wage of 13.34 euros per hour, a trained cook goes home with only the minimum wage of 9.19 euros. How can you support a family on that??", criticizes grundl. To stop this trend, companies that are members of the employers' association had to adhere to the collective agreements negotiated with the union and pay poverty-proof wages.
According to the NGG, the number of association members leaving the collective bargaining community has been increasing for years. "In addition, there must be more collective agreements to which entire industries are obligated by politics – especially where the low-wage sector is rampant, according to Michael Grundl.