DW journalists will get 6.2% pay rise by end of 2022
Following the last round of negotiation on 7 October, members of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) in Germany (DJV and dju in ver.di) finally reached an agreement with the management of Deutsche Welle (DW) for the new collective agreement to have 6.2% salary increase by the end of 2022. The EFJ has congratulated its members for the tough negotiation which led to a positive outcome for the DW journalists.
According to the new agreement, journalists’ salaries at DW will be increased by 2.1% each year for the first two years and another 2% in the third year, amounting to a total increase of 6.2% in the course of three years. For the third year, DW reserved a special right of termination.
“With this result we are very close to the key issues paper from February,” says DJV negotiator Hanna Möllers. “We thank all colleagues who took part in the warning strikes, without whom we would certainly not have achieved this result.”
According to Möllers, the collective bargaining result prevents DW employees from decoupling from the general income trend in Germany: “That was an important goal.” DW journalists were said to have been doing a great job in times of Covid-19, which requires recognition.
Matthias von Fintel, the media tariff secretary at dju in ver.di, shared that the negotiations were conducted for 1,700 permanent employees and 4,000 freelancers.
The new agreement will come into force after the union boards have agreed before the 16 November deadline.
