At their 5th national convention on October 13-18 in Hanover, 99.2 percent of the 400 representatives of the IG BCE union (mining, chemistry and energy) reelected Michael Vasiliadis, 49, President of the union since 2009, as their leader. On October 16, in a general policy statement, he expressed the union’s expectations from the future government currently being formed: introduction of universal minimum wage, new law against abusive appeal to subcontracting and temporary work, extension of works’ councils’ rights, and so on. In favor of a “grand coalition” between Angela Merkel’s CDU/CSU conservative party and the social-democratic party (SPD), the union leader mentioned the idea of a new “Pact for fair employment” gathering the government, the trade unions and employers. (Ref. 130625)
Influential unionist reelected. Organized every 4 years, the IG BCE’s convention was particularly important this year. Indeed, it was the first major union convention (with 661,000 members, the IG BCE is the third largest union in Germany after the IG-Metall and Verdi) a few weeks after the federal election where Angela Merkel triumphed. Besides, it was a few months before major collective negotiations in the sector, which will start at the end of 2013 or beginning of 2014 depending on...
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