Record claims. Any other offers? In September, the first post-crisis wage agreement brought a 3.6% increase and a €150 bonus to steel employees (see our dispatch No. 100688). In the fall, Bosch, Siemens and a few other large businesses announced that they would pay bigger bonuses and pay the increases, planned for April, two months early. Last Monday, the IG Metall claimed a 6% increase for Volkswagen’s employees (see our dispatch No. 100863). Finally, on Tuesday, December 7th, the IG BCE raised the bidding, asking for a 6-7% increase over 12 months for the 550,000 chemistry workers. “The general economic situation is good. It’s even better in chemistry. This has to show in purses” said the IG BCE’s leader, Michel Vassiliadis, adding that the current growth “belongs to the employees” who supported, during the crisis, all the short-time working measures and many “opening clauses,” extraordinary agreements allowing to temporarily suspend or amend existing collective agreements. Unlike the IG Metall, which managed to impose an agreement on equal pay between permanent and temporary employees in the steel industry, the IG BCE didn’t make a claim on this point. The number of agency workers in the German chemical industry is low – 1.2% of the workforce – Vassiliadis pointed out. An equal committee with unions and employers will meet as of January 2011 to consider which measures to take to avoid deviations. The IG BCE said local agreements would be encouraged.
es” said the IG BCE’s leader, Michel Vassiliadis, adding that the current growth “belongs to the employees” who supported, during the crisis, all the short-time working measures and many “opening clauses,” extraordinary agreements allowing to temporarily suspend or amend existing collective agreements. Unlike the IG Metall, which managed to impose an agreement on equal pay between permanent and temporary employees in the steel industry, the IG BCE didn’t make a claim on this point. The number
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