Collective Bargaining Dispute Ended: More Money for State Employees in Jena

Jena/Potsdam, 16.02.2026 – Good news for thousands of public sector employees in Jena: The weeks of uncertainty are over. Employers and unions have agreed on a new collective bargaining agreement in the latest round of negotiations.

Breakthrough at the Negotiating Table

After intensive talks, politicians and unions announced an agreement yesterday, Sunday. According to initial reports, both sides expressed satisfaction with the outcome. For the employees of the state of Thüringen, this specifically means: there is more money. The agreement marks the end of a tense phase in which warning strikes were repeatedly a possibility. Details regarding the exact percentage increase and possible one-time payments will be finalized in writing in the coming days and submitted to members for a vote, but the signal is clear: the collective bargaining conflict is settled for this year.

Jena as a Science Location Breathes a Sigh of Relief

For Jena, the conclusion of the “Tarifvertrag für den öffentlichen Dienst der Länder” (TV-L) has a significantly greater impact than for many other Thüringer municipalities. As a city of science with the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität (FSU) as one of the region’s largest employers, a particularly high number of people are employed directly by the state here.

From research assistants in laboratories at the Beutenberg-Campus to administrative staff in the university’s main building: they all fall under this regulation. An attractive collective bargaining agreement is essential for Jena as a location to remain competitive in the search for skilled workers against the private sector – such as the rapidly growing optics and photonics industry in the Saaletal. The agreement also has a signaling effect for parts of the staff at the Universitätsklinikum Jena, provided they are not covered by specific in-house collective agreements.

Schools and Police: Security Instead of Strikes

The agreement is also noticeable in the cityscape beyond the campus. The teachers at the state schools in Lobeda, Winzerla, and the center are state employees. With the agreement, the threat of comprehensive school strikes, which would have posed an enormous organizational burden for many parents in Jena, is off the table. School operations can continue regularly and without walkouts after the winter holidays.

The result also affects the civil servants and employees of the Landespolizeiinspektion Jena. Although collective bargaining results for civil servants are often transferred by law with a time delay, the collective agreement for employees is considered the authoritative guideline here. For the civil servants in the Saalestadt, the result of the negotiations is thus a direct indicator of their own salary development.

Difference to Municipal Service

Important for context: The agreement explicitly concerns state employees. Employees of the Jena city administration, municipal daycare centers, or municipal enterprises (such as JenaKultur or Kommunalservice Jena) are generally paid according to the collective agreement for the public service (TVöD), which is negotiated separately with municipal employer associations. Nevertheless, collective bargaining rounds often align with each other to prevent the wage structure in the public sector from drifting too far apart.

Conclusion and Outlook

With the compromise, planning security returns to the Thüringer state coffers and to the pay slips of the employees. In times of increased living costs – Jena is known to be among the cities with the highest rental prices in East Germany – the agreed “more” in the wallet is a necessary adjustment for many households.

The unions will now inform their members about the details. As soon as the exact tables are available, it will become clear how large the increase is in individual cases.

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Sources:
Original
Transparency note: This article was created automatically, editorially reviewed, and expanded with AI support.

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