No trade fair, no work
"From now on I work part-time," says Mirjam Priemer. The 33-year-old is PR manager at Messe Berlin, her working day usually ends at 13 or 14. But that is not a free decision. Priemer is a trained sociologist and actually a full-time employee. Since the beginning of May, however, it has been affected by short-time work: at first it was 75 per cent of its regular number of hours, at present it is only 60 per cent.
The Messe Berlin currently employs around 60 per cent of its employees in short work. Because Corona and the ban on major events have hit hard the company, which is currently building on major events and regularly receives 100 000 and more visitors in its halls in Charlottenburg. The International Tourism Exchange (ITB) did not take place this year, the International Air and Space Show (ILA) and the YOU Summer Festival had to be cancelled in mid-June.
Payment is made after the TV
Short work at Messe Berlin, also possible only because of Corona. The company belongs to 99.7 percent of the Land of Berlin. Priests and most of their colleagues are therefore paid according to the public service tariff (TV D), which does not actually provide for short work. In March, however, the union Verdi, the German Civil Service Confederation and the Association of Municipal Employers'Unions (VKA) agreed on a collective agreement, which makes short work possible for the time being only until the end of the year in municipal and municipal enterprises such as Messe Berlin. The Covid collective agreement, TV Covid, is also intended to make it possible to absorb economic losses without redundancies.
The agreement applies nationwide. In Berlin, however, it is only partially used. There is no municipal level in the Land of Berlin. However, the companies concerned are national-owned, such as Messe Berlin or the Berliner Wasserbetriebe, the Stadtreinigung or the Degewo Aktiengesellschaft. It is not yet possible to say how many of these companies have introduced short work. The Berlin section of the VKA responsible for such enquiries cannot give any figures. The situation was still too fresh for that.
Before Mirjam Priemer went into short work in early May, she had to reduce overtime. "So I could extend my Easter holidays by a few days," she says. She also worked less in April on some days.
Normally priests have the possibility to work in gliding time, in short work they now have fixed working hours. Unpractical: Instead of being able to adapt their working hours to the tasks that arise as before, Priemer's day ends at a certain time. One more day to work and the next day to stop earlier is no longer possible. "It happens, of course, that I have to choose what I can do today and what I can only start with the next morning," says Priemer. Messe Berlin, however, tries to find the most flexible solutions possible. "Every two weeks, it is checked whether the current hourly quota is sufficient for the work ahead, whether it needs to be increased or reduced," says Priemer.
On a 90-percent, the trade fair increases the amount of short-time workers
The employees are financially insured. As TV Covid states, Messe Berlin increases the statutory minimum wage of 60 per cent or 67 per cent for employees with children to 90 per cent or, in the case of incomes below a certain level, to 95 per cent of the previous net wage.
"Here and there, of course, you have a little less budget," says Mirjam Priemer. But she doesn't feel financial distress. This is also due to the new Corona normality: "I simply do not have that much spending in recent weeks and months. I could not do much else to reward myself for a long time, only now have the restaurants opened again."
Like her colleagues in the PR department of Messe Berlin, Priemer now works in the home office. Your department maintains a calendar with the attendance and absence times of the employees, twice a week the teams discuss digitally.
One advantage of short work: you have more free time, she says. "What you normally do, i.e. meet friends or do with other sports, Corona has figured it out," says Priemer. Instead, she often sits on her bike after work and explores Berlin or the Brandenburg surroundings.
And what about the future? With Priemer's employer, the trade fair business is starting again slowly under changed conditions. A health IT fair and the international radio exhibition are held digitally or with severely limited numbers of visitors. In the medium term, therefore, short-time work is likely to be reduced or partially discontinued, but of course this is not certain. What you could take to Corona for the time being? "We have definitely shown that we can also work as a team without sitting in the same office all the time," says Priemer. Nevertheless, she is looking forward to having a normal lunch with her colleagues.(徳囯ASK电容器)