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12 March, 2007
On 8 March, ICEM affiliate IGBCE and BAVC, the chemical employers’ association in Germany, came to terms on a 14-month renewal contract covering 550,000 chemical workers. The contract includes adequate pay gains, but, more importantly, continues a trend of job growth inside Germany’s chemicals sector.
A salary increase of 3.6% is the base of the agreement. Workers will also receive an extra payment of 0.7% of their salary, times 13 months, before 30 June 2007 as a one-off. An additional lump sum tied to training is also included.
“The percentage increase, combined with the one-time payment, gives us an increase of 4.3%,” said IGBCE Head of Collective Bargaining, Werner Bischoff. “This is an acceptable and a decent compromise.” Bischoff said protests by workers after the first round of national talks on 8 February had moved the BAVC at the bargaining table.
The IGBCE also won rights for 16,800 training placements to occur in 2007 and 2008, a proud achievement for the union in a four-year-old programme to retain and develop highly-skilled German chemical workers.
“It is good that we continue the efforts in the area of training at this high level,” said Bischoff, adding that the IGBCE and chemical employers succeeded in meeting social responsibility goals.
The renewal agreement, which effectively covers some 19,000 chemical employers, also calls for 2009 and 2010 levels of new training jobs to be determined inside collective bargaining. Bischoff noted that, through the 8 March agreement reached in Lahnstein, the IGBCE’s “Future through Training” programme, which began in the 2003’s round of collective bargaining, is now engendered until at least 2010.