German bank employees are demanding additional vacation by sacrificing their salaries

In the upcoming collective bargaining negotiations, bank employees are not only demanding AI compensation days. Up to ten additional days of vacation should also be possible if you forgo salary.

Deutsche Bank and Postbank: Bank employees demand the right to additional vacation. Photo: dpa

Frankfurt. The German Bank Employees Association (DBV) wants to enforce, among other things, a right to the purchase of additional vacation days in the upcoming collective bargaining negotiations for the private banking industry.

“Being able to buy vacation days also gives individuals the freedom to decide for themselves whether they need more money or more time in a year,” explained Wolfgang Ermann, DBV negotiator for private banks.

Specifically, it is about an annual entitlement to the acquisition of up to ten extra days of vacation. According to the union, however, this demand does not replace salary increases. Rather, it complements this with a voluntary decision-making option for the individual.

According to the DBV, more salary remains the most important expectation of a collective bargaining round for most employees. At the same time, however, many colleagues would like to have the freedom to acquire additional free time if they have sufficient financial flexibility.

Comparable “time instead of money” models are already a reality in parts of the German financial sector, for example for employees of Postbank or the DZ Bank Group.

Collective bargaining for the private banking industry is scheduled to begin on October 8th. This is about employees at financial institutions such as Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank.

The DBV is also entering the collective bargaining round with a demand for a total of 9.5 percent more salary over a period of 24 months. He also wants to implement up to three relief days per quarter due to the increasing use of artificial intelligence.

More: Bank employees demand up to three AI relief days per quarter