On February 14, the IG BCE and Verdi unions as well as the negotiators for the two regional employers’ organizations (AVE and AGV Bayern) presented the outline of a collective agreement on pay and early retirement for EON, the power producer, and the German subsidiary of the Dutch electricity transmission system operator, TenneT. Signed for 24 months, it covers 25,000 employees (20,000 for EON and 5,000 for TenneT) and provides for a 4.5 percent wage increase divided in two over 24 months. For EON, which launched a program to remove 11,000 positions with no layoffs in 2012, the agreement also extends the early retirement measures for 3 age groups.
Difficult, unpredictable conditions. For the second largest power supplier in Germany, prospects have barely improved since Angela Merkel announced, in the spring 2011, that the country was going to quicken the energy transition towards renewable energy started in 2001. EON is still waiting for details, first on the expected amendment to the law governing the level of bonuses paid to renewable energy producers (EEG) and, on the other hand, on the role and support given to traditional fossil fuels in the future layout of German energy.
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