An extraordinary general meeting of the Verband deutschsprachiger Übersetzer (VdÜ) held at the end of September rejected a payment proposal that after six years of dispute, had been negotiated by the VdÜ (Association of German-language Literary Translators / Federal Translators Section in the trade union ver.di) and well-known German commercial publishing companies led by Joerg Pfuhl (Random House). This was because the majority took the view that for various reasons, the proposal would have brought improvements to too few translators. Or to put it another way: the proposal did not adequately implement the appropriate payment for translators as laid down in the copyright bill of 2002, according to the VdÜ.

"I am very disappointed because this means that the decision as to 'appropriate payment' is now in the hands of the judges", says Pfuhl. "Colleagues are shocked too, because we had already come a long way and believed that we had eliminated the difficulty through the clear reduction in the settlement limit." Munich publisher Antje Kunstmann went as far as to describe the decision as a "genuine act of kamikaze" on the part of the translators' association.

The years of dispute have been accompanied by countless court proceedings between translators and publishing companies which have since gone to the Federal Supreme Court – which may perhaps have the last word here too. Because Pfuhl sees no further room for maneouvre on allocation. "With a great deal of effort, it has been possible to bring a large number of publishing companies of very different sizes down to a common denominator. Now, we'll wait and see how the court decides, and draw our conclusions from that."

The new 1st president of the VdÜ, Hinrich Schmidt-Henkel, is in favour of further negotiation, on the other hand. He takes the view that an arrangement arrived at by the industry itself would reflect expertise and a greater satisfactory impact. Schmidt-Henkel intends to use the time till the next regular general meeting in February 2009 to sound out further willingness to talk on all sides. "I see it as my task to create good opening conditions for further payment negotiations", says Schmidt-Henkel.

It is likely that the issue of payment fees will also play a part at some events in the Translators Centre in Hall 5.0 E 955 at the Frankfurt Book Fair – openly or beneath the surface. On Thursday, 16 October, at 11.00 a.m., for example, a discussion featuring the VdÜ and the Turkish translators' association looks into the working conditions of translators in Germany and Turkey. It also seems certain that the controversial topic will come up in one or other conversation between translators and publishing company editors during the Happy Hour, an event also hosted by the VdÜ on Thursday, as from 5.30 p.m.

For other events in the Translators Centre, please refer to the programme:

Sources: Buchreport online, Börsenblatt online