Home › blog › 2026 › March › 11th › reality bursts the bubble
Reality bursts the bubble
11th of March 2026 Article by Katja Scholz
It’s been a difficult start to 2026 for the German contract cleaning sector, reports Katja Scholz.
The start of the year for the contract cleaning sector has been marked by negotiated wage increases and difficult collective wage bargaining talks. Looking back a year, the collective wage agreement in November 2024 signalled an important turning point in the current pay debate: employers and union agreed significant wage increases at that time for both 2025 and 2026. In the largest wage group, the increase amounts to just under 11 per cent – a settlement which many companies already regard as pushing them to the limit.
At the same time, the settlement included a further agreement: from November 2025, talks were to begin regarding an additional special payment to be made exclusively to Union of Construction Workers (IG-BAU) members in guild-affiliated companies – the so-called “Union Bonus”. These talks however quickly turned into the key point of dispute: even the first round of negotiations in November 2025 was unsuccessful. The employer side cited the difficult economic situation and limited financial headroom.
Christian Kloevekorn, chairman of the Collective Bargaining Committee of the Federal Association of Contract Cleaners (BIV) had already stated clearly in November: “We have today referred in particular to the poor economic climate in Germany: an economy which has been stagnating for years, weak business prospects, a challenging market environment in the contract cleaning sector and a settlement of around 11 per cent in the largest wage group which has already pushed employers to the limit.
Early break-up of talks
“Today’s discussions have shown just how far away from economic reality the IG BAU Union is in its demands. The substantive differences could hardly be greater and could not by a long chalk be reconciled today.”
In January this year the BIV bargaining committee responsible decided unanimously that there would be no second meeting between IG BAU and BIV. After years of recession and rising costs, further additional wage burdens were no longer defensible, was the reason given. Kloevekorn stated it quite clearly: “Additional wage burdens are not sustainable. Whoever ignores this reality is jeopardising not only individual companies but also jobs and the economic stability of the whole sector.”
Sector minimum wages significantly above inflation
In contrast, the development of collectively agreed wages has a positive outcome for the employees: the new year brings with it higher wages for those in the skilled trade with the largest workforce in Germany. The sector now has a total of nine wage groups. Two of these are sector minimum wages and thus universally binding - they apply without exception to all contract cleaning staff throughout Germany.
While inflation rose to a total of around 24 per cent between the years 2015 and 2024, collectively agreed wages increased at a significantly higher rate, rising in the east of Germany by almost 74 per cent and in the west of Germany by around 49 per cent. This trend is also continuing at the moment.
At the start of 2026, the sector minimum wage for unskilled cleaning staff rose from €14.25 to €15 per hour. Skilled workers will in future receive €18.40 per hour. This continues to take the contract cleaning sector significantly above the legal minimum wage which has risen this year to €13.90 in Germany.
RSS