Construction workers in east, west Germany get equal pay, 35 years on

Construction workers in eastern and western Germany are to receive equal pay from April 1, more than 35 years on from reunification.

The IG BAU trade union said on Monday that the pay gap will finally close when wages in the regions of the formerly socialist East Germany are increased by 5.3%, compared to 3.9% in the west.

Union official Carsten Burckhardt described the measure as a historic step.

"More than 35 years after reunification, the principle finally applies: one country, one wage, one salary," he said. "The full alignment of incomes in the east and west brings an end to decades of unequal treatment."

Around 920,000 men and women work in the construction sector across Germany, with well over 600,000 in the west alone.

The existing collective wage agreement expires on March 31, 2027.

German reunification took place on October 3, 1990, almost one year after the fall of the Berlin Wall in late 1989.