Four days after the end of its convention, the IG BCE chemistry union revealed, on October 22, its wage claims for the collective negotiations that will start at regional level on December 2 in North Rhine-Westphalia. Pointing to the “good health” of the industry, the union calls for a 5.5 wage increase over 12 months for the sector’s 550,000 employees, which employers immediately said was too high. But the biggest bone of contention should be about the recruitment of apprentices. Reminding that only 1 in 3 apprentices is permanently hired at the end of training, the union wants to reverse this trend and impose an obligation to hire. Employers say this would leader to a decrease in the number of apprenticeship places offered. (Ref. 130647)
Consulting members. An IG BCE spokesperson told Planet Labor that the union’s claims were recommendations that are now going to be debated within the 1,900 firms in the sector. “Our members will have the final say,” he said, adding that the debates will end at the end of November and that a vote will follow. That’s when the union will reveal its official position. Then, the negotiations will start, first at regional level with a first round on December 2 in North Rhine-Westphalia, and then
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