SWR's 5.73% Pay Deal Hinges on Uncertain Broadcasting Fee Future
Veröffentlicht: 10.07.2026 um 01:43 Uhr, Redaktion boerse-global.de
A new collective bargaining agreement at the Südwestrundfunk (SWR) delivers a 5.73% salary increase in two stages over 35 months, but the entire package rests on a financial safeguard clause that could unravel it if broadcasting fee reforms fall short.
Reached on 2 July between the public broadcaster and the VRFF media union after five rounds of talks, the deal also includes structural improvements for specific job groups. Employees will receive a social offset for so-called "empty months" to ease financial gaps, a higher annual special payment, and an increased subsidy for the Deutschlandticket. Part of the raise is linked to staff deployment, reflecting the broadcaster's need for organisational flexibility.
A key focus of the agreement is information technology. The union says all desired career-path adjustments for IT specialists have been implemented, as the SWR aims to remain competitive for tech talent. Administrative staff also gain: the broadcaster is creating 30 additional job grades for caseworkers and assistants, improving promotion opportunities and modernising role profiles.
The deal’s durability, however, depends on future financing from the compulsory household broadcasting fee. The SWR secured a special termination right that triggers if the fee increase lags more than one percentage point behind the recommendation of the Commission to Determine the Financial Requirements (KEF). The KEF had recently proposed a rise of 28 cents. If politicians fail to deliver that level, the entire agreement could be up for renegotiation.
The SWR settlement echoes a similar result at the WDR, where wages also climbed up to 5.73% over 35 months. In the broader Baden-Württemberg region, a wave of labour actions is underway. At the four university hospitals in Freiburg, Heidelberg, Tübingen and Ulm, around 26,000 employees secured a 5.4% increase in three steps over 27 months after several days of warning strikes on 9 July.
Not all sectors are reaching deals. Retail workers in the state saw the third round of negotiations on 9 July end without an outcome, prompting the ver.di union to threaten further walkouts for the roughly 500,000 employees. Meanwhile, on the same day, a large caravan of cars driven by staff from Mercedes-Benz and Porsche clogged Stuttgart’s streets to protest planned cost-cutting, threatened social cuts, and delayed contractual special payments.
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