Pay dispute: Verdi moves toward employers in casino wage talks

Verdi is offering concessions in the wage dispute at Baden-Württemberg's casinos, but it wants employee representatives firmly included in the negotiations ahead.

The union's bargaining committee said it could accept a €230 monthly special payment outside the wage tables, retroactive to January 2026, a peace obligation until January 1, 2027, and participation in workshops to develop a single collective framework. Its condition is the binding inclusion of two representatives from the supervisory board or the operating company.

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With our proposal for the immediate payment of the agreed wage increases and the binding inclusion of the operating company in the upcoming negotiations, the talks could finally continue in a constructive atmosphere.

Verdi negotiator Frank Hawel said the talks could finally resume in a constructive atmosphere if the agreed pay increases were paid immediately and the operating company was included in future negotiations. The union had sharply criticized the process after a supervisory board meeting in early July, saying the company submitted a unilateral, reduced offer instead of returning to talks with the bargaining committee. According to Verdi, key parts of an earlier compromise had been removed.

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A new collective agreement for three locations with very different historical structures is a demanding task and should be a top priority for everyone involved.

The company said the supervisory board viewed the integration of the special payments into the wage tables as part of negotiations on a new collective agreement, rather than the 2026 pay talks, and therefore did not approve it. Tobias Wald, managing director of the Baden-Württemberg casinos, said the company respected Verdi's role and wanted constructive dialogue. “A new collective agreement for three locations with very different historical structures is a demanding task and should be a top priority for everyone involved,” he said.

The employer called a €230 monthly pay increase until the new agreement is completed a fair offer and said it was ready to negotiate. The dispute follows Verdi's announcement of a first agreement in early June, which later collapsed. Workers at the casinos in Baden-Baden, Stuttgart and Konstanz had taken part in the first warning strike in the state-owned company's history.

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For the negotiations on this new collective agreement, we are ready on the employers' side.