Germany: 3.6% wage increase in chemical sector

Social partners in Germany’s chemical sector have struck an agreement that will see the wages of the 580,000 workers in the industry increase by 3.6% over a period of 15 months. Holiday pay will be doubled while the remuneration paid to apprentices will also rise significantly. Although employee representatives have accepted an agreement that they describe as “anything but cheap”, they have refused to put in place a work recovery system, which would compensate staff for extra hours worked either in free time or money. Talks on work organisation and working conditions will be held, with the possibility of an agreement on the matter being reached during the next round of collective negotiations.
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3.6% pay rise. The IG Bergbau, Chemie, Energie trade union and the BAVC, the sector’s employer association, unveiled on 20 September the provisions of the new collective branch agreement, which primarily covers the issue of wages. Under the deal, wages will increase by 3.6%, occurring on three dates (between 1 October and 1 December 2018) depending on the region of the country. Furthermore, the amount of holiday pay received by industry workers will double, to 1200 euros per year in the case of

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