Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

level is held constant, are relatively flat, especially for women (2005a: 111-2). Seniority
rules are wide-spread with regard to higher executives, which are however not subject to
collective regulations (BmFSFJ 2005: 103).
A downward movement on the pay scale is prevented in many branches by the
protection against downgrading which becomes effective in cases of social or economic
risks. This provision entails a wage guarantee for workers from the age of 40-55 years
upwards in combination with a job tenure of between one and 20 years, depending on the
branch (e.g. in the retail trade and metal working industries in Northrhine-Westfalia). The
wage is guaranteed in cases when the older worker takes up a less demanding position
within the firm because of health problems, work deficiencies, work accidents or because of
restructuring.
With regard to early exit, the social partners were active in this realm already since the
1970s in accordance with employers, and the state participated in it by setting incentives for
early exit and restricting dismissals (Keller 1997: 216-7). A long-lasting consensus on the
treatment of older workers as buffer for labour market problems was established when the
CDU/CSU-FDP government consented in 1984 to the demands of ´moderate´ trade unions
(the predecessors of the Trade Union of Mining and the Chemical and Energy Industries IG
BCE, of the Trade Union of the Food and Catering Industries NGG, and of the Unified
Trade Union of Service Workers ver.di) and introduced the pre-retirement scheme in 1984,
as the alternative – the introduction of the 35-hours-week – was strongly opposed by
employers and seemed too radical at that time (Keller 1997: 194ff). Only in the mid-nineties
did the legislator leave the track of supporting early exit, but some earned rights (´facilitated
receipt of unemployment benefit´ or longer period of receipt for older unemployed) were
difficult to cut back. IG Metall, which in the 1980s had taken a contrary position on that
issue, has been campaigning since 2006 for a prolongation of the part time retirement
scheme (IG Metall 2006).
Collective agreements on ATZ were concluded in most branches besides of the banking
sector. At the end of 2003, there were 854 ATZ agreements which covered 16.3 million
workers (Bispinck 2005: XI). 23 per cent of firms with a works council and at least 20
workers have a works council agreement on ATZ or another form of early exit (Schäfer
2008: 294).
The iron and steel industry and the chemical industry have collective agreements on
demographic changes (concluded in 2006 and 2008, respectively). The first one obliges
firms in the sector to conduct an analysis of the age structure, qualification and work
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