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18 October, 2010
For the first time, collective negotiations in Germany’s paper industry will cover both the western and eastern regions of Europe’s largest economy. Those talks between ICEM affiliate IGBCE and Deutschen Paperindustrie (VAP), the employers’ association, started 7 October in Dresden and cover 39,000 paperworkers.
Led by IGBCE Chief Negotiator for the Paper Sector, Holger Nieden, the union insisted in the first round of talks that orders in the industry have picked up, productivity has vastly improved, recovery in the sector is apparent, thus wage increases are justified for both regular workers and apprentices. VAP contended in opening talks that the financial crisis is still in effect due to high raw material and high energy costs.
A second round of negotiations is scheduled for 12 November in Sulzbach, near Saarbrücken, Germany. IGBCE and VAP are coming off a two-year social accord covering workers at some 220 paper mills and paper converting operations.
Without specifying an exact pay gain, the union said it seeks a noticeable remuneration gain, improvements in general conditions of work, and common collective agreement time frames between enterprises in the east and in the west. The current contract in the west expired on 31 August, while in the east, the two-year agreement runs until 30 November. IGBCE is also seeking special criteria for union members in a new accord.
After 20 years of gradual wage adjustments and improvements in working conditions for paperworkers in eastern Germany, it is the first time that a common agreement is being negotiated for both the western federal states and the eastern ones.