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14 June, 2001Philips is trying to escape the collective agreement in Germany with a juridical trick.
GERMANY: A strike in the two Philips semiconductor plants in Hamburg (2,300 employees) and Boeblingen near Stuttgart (760 employees) is quite likely.
The background for this is an attempt by Philips to escape the collective agreements for the metal industry with a legal trick. Philips announced to make the plants independent companies and to join the employers' association for the chemical industry, where there are much weaker wages, social benefits, working conditions and longer working time.
The employees of the plants, the works' councils and IG Metall are fighting against these plans. Since they were announced by the company, 600 additional employees spontaneously joined IG Metall.
The Executive Committee of IG Metall decided that the employees will be called for warning strikes and a strike ballot expected to start on July 1, if the company refuses to negotiate an agreement to resolve the situation.
Philips is already trying to shift production to other plants and to increase the stock for products manufactured in the two plants.
IMF affiliates with membership in Philips are asked to inform their members about the situation in the two German plants and to refuse to take over production which is normally done in these two plants.
The background for this is an attempt by Philips to escape the collective agreements for the metal industry with a legal trick. Philips announced to make the plants independent companies and to join the employers' association for the chemical industry, where there are much weaker wages, social benefits, working conditions and longer working time.
The employees of the plants, the works' councils and IG Metall are fighting against these plans. Since they were announced by the company, 600 additional employees spontaneously joined IG Metall.
The Executive Committee of IG Metall decided that the employees will be called for warning strikes and a strike ballot expected to start on July 1, if the company refuses to negotiate an agreement to resolve the situation.
Philips is already trying to shift production to other plants and to increase the stock for products manufactured in the two plants.
IMF affiliates with membership in Philips are asked to inform their members about the situation in the two German plants and to refuse to take over production which is normally done in these two plants.