Germany : the employers of the chemistry industry blame the trade unions’ “multi-risk insurance minded” mentality and want to freeze the wages

«On the one hand, IG BCE wants more secure jobs and a recruitment guarantee for the apprentices and on the other hand, more money”. This is not compatible, particularly in these difficult circumstances. The chemical industry has been experiencing one of the most important drops in production for decades. We are certainly no longer going through a bad patch, but the consequences of the crisis are far from being overcome. We will not recover the “before-crisis” level before 2012”, declared Han Paul Frey, the BAVC General Secretary who considers that the analysis of the situation defended by IG BCE is “totally mistaken” and that the list of demands presented by the trade union reveals a “multi-risk insurance minded mentality”. Consequently, BAVC requires an agreement without any wage increase. For the trade union and its members, unused to be treated in that way by its counterpart; BAVC’s positions are an insult to the efforts accepted by the employees in a crisis context. Peter Hasmann, an IG BCE Board of Directors’ member and the leading negotiator, reminded that in 2009, the trade union agreed on 342 derogatory agreements (Öffnungklausel) to the industry collective agreements, in some ailing companies employing nearly 130.000 persons. Considering that the chemical industry has been largely less hit than other industries and that the industry companies have left the crisis behind, IG BCE refuses a wage freeze or a long term agreement as in the metallurgy industry. As a matter of fact, the agreement signed in this industry is valid for 24 months with the payment of a single bonus followed by a 2.7% increase in 2011. IG BCE wishes an agreement for only 12 months with a “real” wage increase but on which the union has been unwilling to put a figure yet. The union also demands the renewal of the existing agreements on the job security as well as, considering the sluggish population prospects, the development of the pact called “the future through apprenticeship” in order to improve the planning and to guarantee the number of apprenticeship positions followed by a recruitment.
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ents, in some ailing companies employing nearly 130.000 persons. Considering that the chemical industry has been largely less hit than other industries and that the industry companies have left the crisis behind, IG BCE refuses a wage freeze or a long term agreement as in the metallurgy industry. As a matter of fact, the agreement signed in this industry is valid for 24 months with the payment of a single bonus followed by a 2.7% increase in 2011. IG BCE wishes an agreement for only 12 months w

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