Germany - BWI and Pfleiderer sign international minimum standards agreement - December 6, 2010

The Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI), IG Metall, the European Works Council (EWC) of Pfleiderer AG, and the management of this German wood-based materials producer have concluded an International Framework Agreement (IFA). In the agreement, signed in Frankfurt on 30 November, the company undertakes to comply with minimum standards for the working conditions of all the workers in its domestic and especially foreign entities. Wolfgang Rhode, an executive member of IG Metall’s board, sees the agreement as a way to agree minimum social standards and labour rights within internationally operating companies, in the absence of enforceable government regulations. The Pfleiderer Group employs about 5,600 employees worldwide at 22 locations in Germany, the United States, Canada, Russia, Sweden and Poland.

English: http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?Index=3193&Language=EN

German: http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?Index=3188&Language=DE

This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2011.