Second wage round for TVL orchestras and stages without result 

The second round of collective bargaining to transfer linear pay increases from the TV-L agreement of December 9, 2023 to employees of theaters and orchestras remained unsuccessful today. The four artists' unions BFFS, GDBA, unisono and VdO had demanded that the German Stage Association (DBV) apply the agreement to the employees of all companies covered by the TV-L, including the employees of the Hessian state theaters, the Giessen municipal theater and the Hessian state theater in Marburg. This was rejected by the DBV.

The DBV wants to classify the Hessian state theaters, the Giessen Municipal Theater and the Hessian State Theater Marburg in a separate remuneration table analogous to the TV-H applicable to the public service of the state of Hesse, but refuses to adopt other remuneration-relevant components (e.g. family allowances, Hessen-Ticket). This is neither comprehensible nor acceptable to the trade unions and the employees they represent.

The four trade unions have made it unmistakably clear to the Bühnenverein that the employers must make a decision: Either there will be full application of the TV-L to all stages and orchestras in the federal states that apply this collective agreement to other employees (including Hesse), or an independent collective agreement must be found for the Hessian state theaters, the Stadttheater Gießen and the Hessisches Landestheater Marburg that takes into account all remuneration-relevant components. This is the only way to ensure that artistic employees in Hesse are not decoupled from the rest of the public sector.

The DBV will promptly provide further feedback to the responsible ministries of the state of Hesse and then approach the artists' unions. If no fundamental agreement is reached in the coming weeks as part of these collective bargaining talks, trade union action cannot be ruled out, particularly at the Hessian stages.

Berlin/Hamburg/Cologne, June 18, 2024