Germany's insurance employers and unions ended their third bargaining round in Würzburg on 14-15 October without the Tarifvertrag Transformation (a sector-wide collective agreement on technological change) that ver.di, Germany's services union, made its central demand, according to a circular from the insurance employers' association AGV (Arbeitgeberverband der Versicherungsunternehmen in Deutschland)1. The bank employees' union Deutscher Bankangestellten-Verband also sat at the table2. ver.di opened the talks in September.
On training, the sides ended 15 hours against 15 days. AGV offered a contractual right to 15 hours of training a year, about two working days, plus an annual qualification interview; its circular says ver.di had narrowed its demand to 15 days, three working weeks. According to the circular, ver.di's AI clauses, an impact assessment before any AI system is introduced, protection against de-skilling and human review of algorithmic decisions, appear nowhere in the employers' offer or in the four points agreed.
In return, AGV had asked for a six-month deadline for staff to raise claims under their contract, changes to on-call rest periods and pay conversion into employee shares. Only the deadline made the four agreed points. AGV says it will still sign a transformation contract on its proposed basis if its other demands are met, and the open items move to the next round. Italy's public-sector contract banned fully automated employment decisions in August, the kind of clause ver.di is asking for.
