Large chemical company: BASF plant in Schwarzheide
Photo: REUTERS
In the middle of the energy crisis, the union and employers agreed on a new wage package for the 580,000 employees in the chemical industry.
After a marathon of negotiations, the collective bargaining partners sealed their agreement on Tuesday.
This provides for special payments totaling 3,000 euros per head.
In addition, table-based salary increases of 3.25 percent each will come into effect in January 2023 and 2024.
For the employers' association BAVC, the agreement brings long-term planning security, because the collective agreement does not end until June 30, 2024.
The IG BCE emphasized that the lower wage groups in particular would be relieved by the agreement.
Your boss Michael Vassiliadis sees signal effects for other industries as well.
In the German metal and electrical industry, among others, a collective bargaining agreement must be found soon.
"It's about finding solutions for the people who need support in these difficult times," said IG-BCE negotiator Ralf Sikorski.
In addition, the option for special payments of 3,000 euros, which the federal government had made tax and duty-free in view of the high energy prices, was fully exploited in the end.
The funds will be paid in two tranches due no later than January 2023 and January 2024.
"That goes down well with the employees," he emphasized.
The table-effective salary increases added up to 6.5 percent, but companies can postpone them by up to three months for economic reasons with the help of a company agreement.
"We have a package that's impressive given the environment," said Sikorski.
This could compensate for inflation rates of ten percent.
The head of negotiation for the employers, Hans Oberschulte, spoke of a balanced conclusion.
BAVC boss Kai Beckmann emphasized that both sides were looking for a compromise and not a conflict.
Both sides suffer from inflation
In April, employers and unions had initially agreed on a seven-month bridging solution with a one-off payment of 1,400 euros due to the growing uncertainties resulting from the war in Ukraine.
Difficult companies had the opportunity to reduce the payment to 1000 euros.
The IG BCE went into the third round of negotiations without a concrete demand, but had insisted on a sustainable table-effective increase in wages.
Because employers and trade unions also negotiated against the background of rising inflation.
In September, inflation in Germany was 10.0 percent, the highest since 1951.
The federal government forecasts an average inflation rate of 8.0 percent this year and 7.0 percent in 2023.
As the largest industrial energy consumer in Germany, the chemical industry is massively affected by the exploding energy prices.
Gas is not only the most important source of energy for companies, but is also required in large quantities to manufacture the products.
It is therefore becoming increasingly difficult for the chemical industry to pass on rising costs to customers through higher prices.
The world's largest chemical group, BASF, was in the red in Germany in the third quarter and last week announced a new austerity program that also includes job cuts.
The chemical industry with 1900 companies is Germany's third largest branch of industry after the automotive industry and mechanical engineering.
In the last collective bargaining round at the end of 2019, employers and IG BCE had agreed on salary increases totaling up to six percent.
The current tariff package is a signal beyond the industry, said Vassiliadis.
The collective bargaining round for the 3.8 million employees in the metal and electrical industry is currently underway.
There, too, employers and trade unions could fall back on the federal government's 3,000 euro regulation: "That can be part of a solution model," said Knut Giesler, district manager of IG Metall NRW, in mid-September.
The collective bargaining talks in NRW will continue on October 28th.
IG Metall is demanding eight percent more money.
mamk/Reuters