Tarifpolitische Positionen der deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände

Although employers’ associations are essential actors in the German system of industrial relations, there is still only little quantitative data about their orientation in terms of the collective bargaining of the collective bargaining actors on the management side. In order to extend the research- as well as the practice-oriented knowledge about the organization of business interests and the political and economic services of the associations, a survey of the representatives of employers’ association in Germany was carried out at the Freie Universität Berlin. The paper aims to illustrate the first findings of the survey and shed light on the current positioning of the employers’ associations regarding collective bargaining development by looking at the employers’ associations´ evaluation of the design of collective agreements as well as legal intentions. Looking at the first descriptive analysis, the data reveals that the associations evaluate the design of collective agreements as positive whereas in terms of legal regulation they hold a more sceptical view.