Germany: innovating working time system for chemistry staff in eastern Länder

A system for Germany as a whole.  The chemistry social partners took nearly one year to reach an agreement on working time in “East chemistry,” meaning for the staff of businesses located in former GDR.  These businesses still partially operate with different rules than those in force in western Germany.  Initially, the subject of the negotiations launched in November 2010 was the harmonization of working time.  Indeed, for the same salary, eastern employees work 40 hours a week, as opposed to 37.5 hours in western Germany.  Rather than signing a general agreement on cutting working time without cutting wages in the east, the social partners decided to design a system allowing working time cuts targeting certain categories of workers: those over 60 or those who briefly need more time to cope with extraordinary family situations, such as raising young children or assisting a dependent person.  The social partners say this system helps bring an answer to the issues which will be raised with the increase in statutory retirement age from 65 to 67.  It also helps bring the eastern and western industries closer, all the while meeting the challenges of demographic ageing, which is even heavier in the east than it is in the west.  Peter Hausmann, negotiator and member of the board of the IG BCE chemistry union, said this agreement was a “sign” for the entire sector.  Georg Rheinbay, who negotiated for the Nordostchemie employers’ organization, even said that it would “serve as a model for all of Germany, not just in our industry.”