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12 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 43/1998
Pay for German chemical workers is to go up by 2.4 percent under an agreement reached on Saturday (9 May).
The deal is backdated to 1 March, 1 April or 1 May, varying from state to state, and will run for 14 months. It applies to the 590,000 chemical workers in Germany's western states. There are separate bargaining arrangements for the country's eastern "new federal states".
Workers covered by the new agreement will also receive a one-off extra payment equivalent to 1.1 percent of one year's basic pay. But firms facing difficult financial situations will have the option of lowering and/or postponing this payment - provided they have the prior agreement of the works council. Works councils are the elected representative bodies for the employees in each German workplace.
The overall increase in pay volume under the agreement will be 3 percent.
It was also agreed to boost existing opportunities for older workers to move to part-time working. Workers aged 55 and over who opt to work half-time are already guaranteed at least 85 percent of their previous full net earnings. The length and coverage of this arrangement will be extended.
Traineeships in the sector will be further increased under the agreement. Between 1995 and 1997, the number of apprenticeships in western Germany's chemical industry was increased by more than 20 percent. The employers have undertaken to ensure a further rise of at least five percent in traineeships between 1997 and the end of the year 2000. Apprentices' pay will remain at the present level under the agreement, but they will receive a one-off extra payment of 200 deutschmarks.
Other provisions in the agreement lay the foundations for additional extra-legal pensions to be built into collective agreements.
"We have moved into new territory with the structure of these pay rises," commented Werner Bischoff. He is in charge of collective bargaining at the chemical, mining and energy union IG BCE. The two-part structure would, he said, make it possible to "react much more strongly than up to now to the economic situation." All in all, he emphasised, the agreement marks "the continuation of our bargaining policy - it's all about safeguarding existing jobs, creating new ones and strengthening purchasing power."
At the global level, IG BCE is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
The deal is backdated to 1 March, 1 April or 1 May, varying from state to state, and will run for 14 months. It applies to the 590,000 chemical workers in Germany's western states. There are separate bargaining arrangements for the country's eastern "new federal states".
Workers covered by the new agreement will also receive a one-off extra payment equivalent to 1.1 percent of one year's basic pay. But firms facing difficult financial situations will have the option of lowering and/or postponing this payment - provided they have the prior agreement of the works council. Works councils are the elected representative bodies for the employees in each German workplace.
The overall increase in pay volume under the agreement will be 3 percent.
It was also agreed to boost existing opportunities for older workers to move to part-time working. Workers aged 55 and over who opt to work half-time are already guaranteed at least 85 percent of their previous full net earnings. The length and coverage of this arrangement will be extended.
Traineeships in the sector will be further increased under the agreement. Between 1995 and 1997, the number of apprenticeships in western Germany's chemical industry was increased by more than 20 percent. The employers have undertaken to ensure a further rise of at least five percent in traineeships between 1997 and the end of the year 2000. Apprentices' pay will remain at the present level under the agreement, but they will receive a one-off extra payment of 200 deutschmarks.
Other provisions in the agreement lay the foundations for additional extra-legal pensions to be built into collective agreements.
"We have moved into new territory with the structure of these pay rises," commented Werner Bischoff. He is in charge of collective bargaining at the chemical, mining and energy union IG BCE. The two-part structure would, he said, make it possible to "react much more strongly than up to now to the economic situation." All in all, he emphasised, the agreement marks "the continuation of our bargaining policy - it's all about safeguarding existing jobs, creating new ones and strengthening purchasing power."
At the global level, IG BCE is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).