Since January, employers and trade unions have been arguing about future incomes and working hours in the public sector at federal and municipal level. This led to several strikes, and in the end mediators had to intervene.

A collective agreement was finally reached recently. It affects more than 2.5 million municipal and federal employees. These are employees in the administrations, but also in daycare centres and schools, in local transport, in waste management, in sewage treatment plants, in swimming pools, in care facilities or at airports. Employees of the federal states are not affected; separate negotiations will be held for them in the autumn.

Employees are to receive more money in two stages:

from 1 April 2025, three per cent, but at least 110 euros more per month. Stage two will follow from 1 May 2026, with a 2.8 per cent increase. From 1 July 2025, allowances for shift work are also to be increased from €40 to €100 and for alternating shift work from €105 to €200. In addition, the 13th monthly salary is to increase from 2026.
In addition, working hours are to become much more flexible. For example, employees will be able to exchange parts of the increased 13th monthly salary for up to three additional days off. However, this does not apply to municipal hospitals, where employers are having a hard time finding replacements. From 2027, there will be an additional day of holiday.

At the same time, from 2026 employees will have the option of voluntarily increasing their weekly working hours to up to 42 hours for a limited period, thus working more and also earning more.
The collective agreement has a term of 27 months but applies retroactively from 1 January 2025.