Germany: for the first time, Volkswagen’s collective agreement includes a variable wage component based on performance

Towards more flexible wages. Disappointed that the group’s management refused claims accepted by Audi and Porsche, the IG-Metall threatened, last week, with launching warning strikes (see our dispatch No. 090868) if Volkswagen’s management refused to use the provisions of the agreement signed in metalworking in late 2008 (see our dispatch No. 080888). These threats vanished yesterday. Indeed, Hartmut Meine, IG-Metall negotiator, got more than he was hoping for. Jochen Schum, negotiator for the management, not only accepted to apply the metalworking agreement to the 90,000 “house” employees of VW, but he also added a new agreement replacing the previous agreement valid until the end of June 2009, a monthly bonus based on performance, a first at Volkswagen. For the management, this bonus was fundamental because, in the long run, it leads the way towards variable remuneration for employees and therefore a more “flexible” payroll. This bonus, paid as of 2011, should amount, in average, to €100 a month. To that end, the management and the central WC will sign a company agreement some time next year. This agreement will define the modalities to calculate the bonus.
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ore than he was hoping for. Jochen Schum, negotiator for the management, not only accepted to apply the metalworking agreement to the 90,000 “house” employees of VW, but he also added a new agreement replacing the previous agreement valid until the end of June 2009, a monthly bonus based on performance, a first at Volkswagen. For the management, this bonus was fundamental because, in the long run, it leads the way towards variable remuneration for employees and therefore a more “flexible” payro

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