Parties to the collective bargaining agreements:

Verband Deutscher Reeder
Burchardstr. 24
20095 Hamburg

Phone: +49 40 350970
Fax: +49 40 35097211
Mail: vdr@reederverband.de

Ver.di
Fachgruppe Schifffahrt
Pauli-Thiede-Ufer 10
10179 Berlin

Phone: +49 30 6956-2621
Fax: +49 30 6956-3820
Mail: schifffahrt.buv@verdi.de

Collective bargaining agreements

Collective bargaining agreements apply only, if so agreed in the employment agreement

German labour law does not require any employer/ shipowner to apply collective bargaining agreements to employees on board of his German-flagged ships. The collective bargaining agreements in the German shipping industry (Manteltarifvertrag See and Heuertarifvertrag See) only apply, if:

the shipowning company is a member of the tariff community of the German Shipowners' Association (VDR) and individual seafarers are members of the ver.di trade union (known as "double tariff"), or
their application is expressly agreed in the employment agreement.

German maritime collective bargaining agreements (Manteltarifvertrag See and Heuertarifvertrag See)

The Manteltarifvertrag See (MTV See) provides the recognized framework for working conditions of seafarers in German ocean shipping. It contains regulations of long-term and more general character and its period of validity has not been restricted. The MTV See does not address wage levels, as these are fixed in the Heuertarifvertrag See (HTV See). The HTV See is renegotiated in shorter intervals for adjustment of wages.

The current collective bargaining agreements are available for download:

bild tarifverträge