Remuneration in the German Broadcasting Sector: The Employers' Perspective

Abstract

This article focuses on the managerial perspective in wage formation. The study concentrates on two questions: 1) Why do employers want more autonomy at the expense of collective agreements? 2) What do employers gain from a more or less autonomous system of remuneration? After a brief description of the wage formation framework, in particular the framework within the broadcasting sector, I will present the results of interviews with the management of private and public broadcasting stations. In matters of wage formation the study illustrates a clear division between companies with collective agreements and companies without collective agreements. All the managers interviewed for this article express an increasing need for autonomy, but some are convinced that autonomy can be achieved within the framework of collective agreements. Other companies demand absolute autonomy for the management and totally reject being bound by collective bargaining. Most of the companies without collective agreements refuse to undergo or accept the results of collective bargaining, citing that collective agreements could hamper their efforts to create their own remuneration system, which they say should be linked directly to the individual performances of each employee. Contrary to the assumptions of the German model of industrial relations, these employers see the individual conflict over remuneration as an opportunity to motivate employees and to preserve the management's future flexibility. Another interesting result emerges in respect to the role of labor law. Contrary to the assumption that German labor law hinders flexibility, employers in this study do not see the process of wage formation extremely restricted by labor law.