The President of the University of Göttingen
The Managing Director of the Faculty of Medicine/University Hospital

Dear Colleagues!
The Presidential Board, the exectutive director of the Faculty of Medicine/University Hospital, and a committee formed specifically for the occasion are in negotiation with the Ministry of Science and Culture of the State of Lower Saxony at present concerning the question of transferring Georg-August-Universität Göttingen into a public law foundation. As soon as a reliable consensus has been reached, the University Senate will debate the issue and decide - probably as soon as October of this year - whether the University should take this new direction.
Changing the University into a public law foundation will mean, among other things, that the responsibilities for its employees will from now on be in the hands of the foundation rather than the State of Lower Saxony. The past few days have brought to light uncertainties concerning the consequences of such a transfer of authority. People are concerned that it might lead to a loss of rights for the employees both of the University and the Faculty of Medicine/University Hospital.
Let us, therefore, clearly state that the negotiations with the Ministry are undertaken with the legal proviso that all existing personnel rights will remain in force. Your staff council representatives have been consulted in all particulars. All personnel will be transferred into the foundation. All valid employee and civil servant contracts will continue to be valid. All rights protecting employees from wrongful dismissal and employer´s contributions to tax-deductible saving schemes (VBL) remain in force.

Please also consult this detailed list of regulations and agreements:

• All employees of the University will be employed by the Foundation. The joint declaration of the government of the State of Lower Saxony and the umbrella union organizations concerning national modernization as reflected in § 81 of the State of Lower Saxony Personnel Representative Law of July 27, 2000 remain in force. No employee may be dismissed because of the transfer of the University into a Foundation, nor because positions become superfluous as a result of such a transfer.
• The Foundation will be legal heir to the state in all duties of an employer. Civil servants are still subject to the State of Lower Saxony Civil Servant Code; other employees are still subject to the Federal Collective Tariff Agreement (BAT) and the general agreement on Conditions of Employment for Workers (MTArb). Paragraph 58 of the Tertiary Education Law of the State of Lower Saxony (NHG) commits the University to joining the Federation of Employers led by the State which is a member of the tariff association of German states. Future agreements are thus guaranteed to apply to Foundation personnel.
• All employees who are transferred from the University to the Foundation can be sure of maintaining all individual and collective claims irrespective of whether their claims rest on laws or decrees. This is also true of additional provisions: according to § 58 of the NHG current payments of the federal and state Maintenance Institution (VBL) remain valid.
• If these provisions for the protection of workers and employees are not fully met by the Foundation, employees and workers have the right to request their reintegration into employment by the State of Lower Saxony.

Regulations and decrees which exceed these detailed agreements are continuously discussed with your staff council representatives. Furthermore, the Presidential Board, the Heads of Sections of the University administration, and your staff council representatives will be present to answer your questions in an employee´s general meeting which will take place in October.

Yours sincerely,

Prof. Dr. Horst Kern
President, University of Göttingen

Prof. Dr. Manfred Droese