Germany: chemical industry social partners strike crisis agreement

Social partners in Germany’s chemical industry, the IG BCE union and the employer confederation BAVC, this week unveiled a ‘crisis agreement’ that will apply until the end of the year. This agreement should make it possible to adapt certain provisions of the branch collective agreement, signed at the end of November 2019, and to increase the remuneration level of employees placed on short-time working.
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Following the example of social partners in the metal industry (see article n°11748), their counterparts in chemical industry have negotiated a crisis agreement that is valid until 31 December 2020. The president of the IG BCE union explained at the beginning of the week that he expected short-time working to quickly become commonplace in the sector, which employs some 1.1 million people. Chemical units and companies that serve the automobile industry have already begun to slow down or even sus

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