Ver.di has called on its members in the Vattenfall and RWE energy companies to support warning strikes in order to strengthen the unions’ position in the next round of collective bargaining. In Vattenfall the union has criticised the company for failing to make a concrete offer after two bargaining rounds in response to the union’s demands for a 6.5% increase for the 20,000 employees. The ver.di and IGBCE unions in RWE also want a 6.5% increase and there the employers have so far offered only 2.4% plus a lump sum after already five rounds of collective bargaining. These unions report that the widespread support for the warning strikes of 24 January proves that workers’ discontent at RWE is “wide and loud” (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 December 2010).
English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/398;
http://www.icem.org/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4216-German-Power-Workers ...
German: http://presse.verdi.de/pressemitteilungen/showNews?id ...;
http://presse.verdi.de/pressemitteilungen/showNews?id ...
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. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS)