Conflict over labor costs: strikes in many branches of Real

Thousands of employees of the Real supermarket chain have left their work. They protest against lower wages for newly hired employees.

According to the ver.di union, several thousand employees have resigned from the Real supermarket chain. They protested against the salary cuts of newly appointed employees.

"We are fighting for wages from which we can live," said Stefanie Nutzenberger, member of the Federal Executive Board. According to ver.di, the employees of nearly half of Real's 281 stores participated in strike action, demonstrations and rallies.

Real badured Thursday that all markets remained "open as usual". The company is prepared for "exceptional situations of this kind": work stoppages of "individual unionized workers" will not lead to a closure.

labor costs litigation

The trigger for the strike is the decision of the management. .di has accepted collective agreements and has paid newly hired employees under a collective agreement with the DHV union, which is much cheaper for the company.

This means an average of 23% less money for those affected. Such wages directly lead to employee poverty.

The head of the parent company Metro, Olaf Koch, accuses the union of having banned for years the collective bargaining of a competitive compensation structure in the distressed supermarket chain. The previous collective agreements have imposed on Real significantly higher labor costs than they would have to support many competitors.