Schulten, Thorsten
New agreements signed in west German chemicals industry
27 May 1998
On 9 May 1998, the Mining, Chemicals and Energy Union (Industriegewerkschaft
Bergbau, Chemie, Energie, IG BCE) and the employers' association for the
chemical industry (Bundesarbeitgeberverband Chemie, BAVC) signed new
collective agreements for the 590,000 or so employees in the west German
chemicals industry. With a term of 14 months, the new collective agreements
provide for a 2.4% wage increase and, in addition, a one-off payment of about
1.1% of collectively agreed annual income. According to IG BCE, the overall
wage increase calculated on an annual basis is equivalent to a 3% pay rise.
Originally, IG BCE started the 1998 collective bargaining round with demands
for 5% wage increases.
New IG Metall initiative demands further reduction in working time
27 May 1998
From 7-9 May 1998 the German metalworkers' trade union, IG Metall, held a
conference with about 460 participants (mainly union workplace
representatives and local trade union officers) to discuss the union's
positions on future working time policy. In the run-up to the conference, the
board of IG Metall presented a document on an /IG Metall initiative on
employment and working time policy/ (Beschäftigungs- und
arbeitszeitpolitische Initiative der IG Metall) which contains various
proposals for short- and medium-term strategy on further working time
reductions.
German Government presents its National Action Plan on Employment
27 May 1998
After the European Council had adopted its Guidelines for Member States'
Employment Policies for 1998 [1] in December 1997 (EU9712174N [2]), all
Member States were committed to incorporate these guidelines into National
Action Plans (NAP s) on employment and to submit these plans for examination
by the European Council meeting in Cardiff in June 1998. On 22 April 1998,
the German Federal Government presented its National Action Plan [3] for 1998
which contains two parts:
[1] http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/empl&esf/docs/guideen.htm
[2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/1998-employment-policy-guidelines-adopted
[3] http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/empl&esf/naps/de_en.pdf
Industrial relations aspects of the Daimler-Chrysler merger
27 May 1998
On 7 May 1998, two of the world's leading car manufactures, the German
Daimler-Benz AG and the USA-based Chrysler Corporation announced the largest
industrial merger in history. The new company, to be called Daimler-Chrysler,
will be the world's fifth-largest car maker with combined revenues of around
USD 130 billion, a combined operating profit of around USD 7 billion, and a
combined workforce of more than 420,000 employees - see below.
New collective agreement for Siemens AG outsourced companies
27 April 1998
The companies which form part of Germany's largest electrical engineering and
electronic company, Siemens AG, are usually covered by the metalworking
branch-level collective agreements. In recent times, however, Siemens
management has developed - in particular for its service activities - various
"outsourcing" strategies which at the same time allow the affected business
units to depart from the legal framework of the branch-level collective
agreement. In 1997, Siemens realised that within its information technology
subsidiary, Siemens Nixdorf, an intended "flight" from the existing
collective agreement would create considerable conflict with the
metalworkers' trade union, IG Metall (DE9709130N [1]). Therefore, once
Siemens had announced further outsourcing plans at the beginning of 1998, it
immediately started negotiations with the union.
[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/no-increase-in-weekly-hours-in-siemens-nixdorf-reorganisation
Hours cuts agreed in east German soft drinks industries
27 April 1998
On 30 March 1998, the German Food and Restaurants Workers' Union
(Gewerkschaft Nahrung Genuß Gaststätten, NGG) and the employers'
association for the east German soft drinks industries concluded a new
framework collective agreement (Manteltarifvertrag) for about 4,000
employees. The most important part of the new agreement is a reduction in
weekly working time from 40 to 38 hours. Furthermore, the new agreement
contains the following provisions:
Cooperation agreement between German and Italian construction unions
27 April 1998
On 31 March 1998, the German construction workers' trade union, IG
Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt (IG Bau), and the three Italian construction workers'
unions, Feneal-Uil, Filca-Cisl and Fillea-Cgil, signed a new agreement for
closer cooperation and mutual recognition of union membership. This agreement
is a reaction by the unions to the constantly growing number of posted
workers in the construction industry since freedom of movement was guaranteed
by the introduction of the European single market. From now on, as a result
of the new agreement, all members of the Italian construction workers' unions
who work in Germany, even for a short period, are to get free legal advice
and aid from the German union's offices. Furthermore Italian union members
who work for a longer period in Germany can easily become members of IG Bau,
and vice versa. At the moment, IG Bau has about 5,000 Italian members
Unions agree further steps towards combined service sector union
27 March 1998
On 24 February 1998 six German service sector trade unions published a common
draft for a "political platform on the restructuring of trade union
representation of interests in the service sector" (Politische Plattform zur
Neustrukturierung der gewerkschaftlichen Interessenvertretung im
Dienstleistungsbereich). The unions concerned are:
Increases in collectively agreed wages and salaries in 1997
27 February 1998
According to a recent analysis by the Institute for Economics and Social
Science (Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliches Institut, WSI),
collectively agreed basic wages and salaries in *western Germany* rose on
average by about 1.4% in 1997. Since the inflation rate was 1.8% in 1997,
employees had to accept an average decrease in real wages of about 0.4
percentage points. Furthermore, the 1997 growth in wages and salaries was
much below the year's "margin of distribution" (Verteilungsspielraum) of 5.2%
- calculated by adding the 1.8% increase in inflation to a 3.4% increase in
productivity. Collectively agreed pay increases were thus the result of a
very moderate wage policy, of which the current trend of not exhausting the
"margin of distribution" is seen as a continuation. (DE9709232N [1]).
[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/collectively-agreed-pay-increases-have-not-exhausted-the-margin-of-distribution
ÖTV leader sets 30-hour week as long-term goal
27 February 1998
On 16 February 1998, the president of the Public Services, Transport and
Traffic Union (Gewerkschaft Öffentliche Dienste, Transport und Verkehr,
ÖTV), Herbert Mai, stated in an interview that in the long run there is no
alternative to an extensive reduction of working time in order to solve the
unemployment problem. For Mr Mai, the introduction of the 30-hour week could
be an important step towards halving unemployment in Germany. In the public
services sector alone, a weekly reduction of one hour in working time would
have an "arithmetical employment effect", producing 135,000 new jobs. At the
moment, weekly working time in public services is 38.5 hours in western
Germany and 40 hours in eastern Germany.