Classification

Over the last 15 years, work at universities has changed significantly for many employees. New areas of work have emerged for university staff, other areas have taken a back seat and areas of responsibility have been redistributed. Knowledge transfer and independent teamwork have become even more important for academic and administrative/technical staff and form the foundation for good science and teaching.Digitalization, internationalization and the acquisition of third-party funding are leading to constantly increasing demands with new areas of work and responsibilities.

Employees of the University of Kassel are classified as public service employees according to their professional group in different remuneration classes, the so-called pay groups: EG 1 with the lowest remuneration to EG 16 with the highest remuneration. The classification into a pay grade is based on the job description, experience and qualifications. However, the changed and more complex fields of work were not reflected in the job description and therefore not all employees were (re)classified accordingly. Due to the outdated job descriptions, this can mean that specialists in the library, laboratories, administration and secretariats, for example, are undervalued and therefore underpaid for their actual work performance.

The universities have leeway in their grouping practice and level allocation within the framework of the collective agreement (TV-H). This becomes clear, for example, when different groupings are made within an occupational group for a similar range of tasks. Job descriptions should therefore be regularly reviewed to ensure that they are up to date.

In addition, the recognition of experience for the level assignment in the remuneration classes must also be discussed. Experience in the same job, even without a previous employment contract in Germany, must be recognized.

The University of Kassel has a structural problem here and is in urgent need of modernization.

In the 4E campaign of ver.di + GEW, we are working together for a fair and appropriate classification of colleagues and invite everyone to participate.