Germany’s largest civil service union, the Deutscher Beamtenbund (DBB), has cautioned that industrial action in schools could occur should proposals to limit or end the civil servant status of teachers be implemented.
DBB Federal Chairman Volker Geyer highlighted that the established civil servant status of teachers currently ensures a strike-free educational environment. His statement comes in response to recent suggestions from political figures and taxpayer associations advocating for a reduction in the number of civil service positions across Germany.
Geyer questioned the potential consequences of these proposals, directly referencing calls from CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann and representatives from the Bund der Steuerzahler, who have pointed to the financial burden of public sector pensions. He suggested that implementing such changes could lead to disruptions within the education system.
The DBB chairman argued that removing civil servant status from professions like teaching, a fundamentally sovereign task, would not generate cost savings. Instead, he explained, such a move would necessitate increases in gross salaries, employer contributions to pension insurance and provisions for supplementary pension schemes for teachers reclassified as employees.
Geyer concluded by asserting that ending civil servant status would not address existing challenges facing the pension system or public budgets, but rather introduce a new set of problems, warning against pursuing this particular line of debate.
