Baden-Württemberg Retail Workers Win Backdated 3.0% Raise After Fourth Round Talks
Published on 09/16/2026 at 04:10 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Roughly half a million people working in retail and mail-order businesses across Baden-Württemberg are set to see their pay packets grow, following a deal struck between the ver.di union and the state's retail association.
The agreement, reached in a fourth round of negotiations and reported across media outlets on 15 September 2026, delivers increases in stages rather than in one lump sum.
Two-step pay rise over 25 months
Under the settlement, wages and salaries rise by 3.0 percent, backdated to 1.7.2026. A second instalment of 2.0 percent follows on 1.4.2027. The collective agreement as a whole runs for 25 months.
Beyond the standard pay tables, the package contains targeted provisions for trainees and lower-paid staff. Training allowances go up by a larger margin than general pay, with those adjustments taking effect on 1 September of each year covered by the deal.
Floor-level pay grades also receive a boost, in some cases a bigger one than higher grades, in a move designed to protect minimum thresholds and wage floors.
ver.di had entered the talks asking for a flat monthly increase of 300 euros, plus an extra 150 euros for apprentices.
Employers call the outcome painful but predictable
Philip Merten, who led the negotiations for the employers' side, gave the result a muted reception. He described it as a difficult and painful compromise given the cost pressure weighing on the retail sector, saying the deal demands substantial financial concessions from retail businesses while at least giving them planning certainty for the months ahead.
The breakthrough at the table came after strike action and a series of protests. Workers walked out at chains including Kaufland, H&M, Zara, IKEA and Media Markt to turn up the heat on their demands.
North Rhine-Westphalia set the template
Baden-Württemberg's bargaining committee has effectively adopted the core terms of the pilot agreement reached in North Rhine-Westphalia on 26.8.2026, which had already established the framework for other regional bargaining areas. Before the south-western deal was sealed, that NRW outcome had been taken up one by one in Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse, Bavaria and Lower Saxony-Bremen.
