Industry is heavyweight
IG BCE wants to demand seven percent more in the collective bargaining round
April 10, 2024, 3:14 p.m
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Almost 600,000 people work in the German chemical industry. The union is demanding significantly more money for them in the upcoming collective bargaining round. It also insists on greater appreciation for its employees – and a bonus for its members.
The IG BCE is calling for a seven percent increase in wages in the 2024 chemical collective bargaining round. As the union announced at the end of ten weeks of consultations with the Federal Collective Bargaining Commission, collective agreements for the appreciation and better position of IG BCE members as well as a modernization of the federal wage agreement are also being demanded for the 585,000 employees. For example, union members should receive more free time or better social security.
The salary requirement is at the upper end of the IG BCE board’s recommendation of six to seven percent increase. “We have to go back to the status quo when it comes to real wages – nothing more and nothing less,” said IG BCE collective bargaining board and chemical negotiator Oliver Heinrich. Since 2020, inflation has risen faster than wages in the chemical industry. “In order to close this gap, we now need an increase of seven percent.”
The employers rejected the claim as unfinanceable. “So far, the union has glossed over the situation in order to justify a wage demand that cannot be reconciled with the economic situation,” criticized negotiator Matthias Bürk from the Federal Employers’ Association BAVC. An upswing in the industry is currently not in sight. “Where there are no increases, we cannot distribute any.”
The Federal Tariff Commission’s decision on demands forms the basis for the collective bargaining negotiations on both sides, which will begin at the regional level next week. Rhineland-Palatinate will be the first among the nine collective bargaining districts nationwide on April 15th. The currently valid collective agreement – and with it the peace obligation – expires on June 30th. The union and employers last agreed on a collective agreement in October 2022, which provided for special payments and salary increases of 3.25 percent in two steps.
Chemistry is one of the industrial heavyweights in Germany. According to employers, it is currently in a crisis following a decline in sales and burdens caused by, among other things, increased energy prices. There were missing orders.