On 19 September, and following earlier grass-roots consultations, the Federal Commission for the Chemicals and Energy sector union’s (IG BCE) collective negotiations published the trade union’s platform of demands that it will be advocating during the renegotiation of the sector’s collective agreement, which will impact some 580,000 employees. Key among its demands is the implementation of a ‘Zukunftskonto’ (‘Account for the Future’) amounting to €1,000 per employee, per annum. Focused on securing a more qualitative rather than quantitative collective agreement, this time, and in a break with tradition, the IG BCE and will not be publishing any set target for expected salary increases.
Negotiations focused on preparing for the future. “We are seeking collective negotiations that develop new responses to the major challenges facing our sector. We hope that this year the employers’ federation will follow suit,” stated the chief negotiator and Vice-President of the IG BCE, Ralf Sikorski, during the presentation of the union’s demands on 19 September in Hanover. This statement can be better understood in light of the following context: ‘Last year, business leaders asked us to del
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