No. In Germany the big companies all have unions. You can always try to negotiate for better conditions, but it always has to be at least the union Tarif. If you can show that you are worth more you can get it.

[–] boonhet@lemm.ee 0 points 2 months ago

Okay, that's actually a good thing. I've heard unions in the US apparently often restrict individual bargaining, as that would undermine the collective bargaining of the union. So in that case, your coworker who's been working for 20 years, will make twice as much as you do at your 2 years, despite the fact that all he does all day is scratch his balls, while you bust your ass off. And you have no way of earning more than them.

Either way it doesn't affect me because I'm in Estonia and in a field where we generally get paid well enough even without unions. But I also know this won't last forever, because right now there's way too many unemployed software engineers.