Preserving collective bargaining autonomy: Pay Transparency Act could become a brutal attack on collective bargaining autonomy
BDA Chief Executive Steffen Kampeter explains on the occasion of the presentation of the Commission's report on the Pay Transparency Directive:
Preserving collective bargaining autonomy: Pay Transparency Act could become a brutal attack on collective bargaining autonomy
Berlin, November 7, 2025. "For employers, equal pay for equal work is a matter of course. This is an expression of fairness within the company. In order to continue to guarantee this in the future, it must be ensured that equality is not translated into egalitarianism. This would be a disastrous path that could seriously damage the acceptance of equal pay within companies. Against this background, the Pay Transparency Act could become a brutal attack on collective bargaining autonomy.
The validity and application of collective agreements are a guarantee of fair and good remuneration. It must therefore remain the case that companies and businesses that apply and are bound by collective agreements can invoke these agreements. The protection of collective agreements must not be called into question by the Pay Transparency Directive.
The submission of the Commission's report on the low-bureaucracy implementation of the Pay Transparency Directive once again emphasizes that the implementation of this directive must not jeopardize collective bargaining autonomy or cause new disputes in the trusting cooperation between works councils and employers."
