France - Plastic workers' day of action for wage increase - November 23, 2009

On 19 November, the Federation of Chemical and Energy Workers (FCE-CFDT) Union conducted a day of action against the country's plastics manufacturers over a long simmering wage dispute. Some 150,000 workers in plastics, employed by 3,700 big and small plastics companies, have not seen any wage increase since 2006. Early in 2008, the employers' federation abrogated a 2004 collective agreement which automatically gave wage increases that at least matched inflation. In the over three years since the last pay hike, three pay grids in French plastics have fallen below the national minimum wage (SMIC) levels. Despite ongoing negotiations since May 2008, the employers' grouping and the unions have been unable to reach acceptable wage standards, or a threshold on maximum seniority pay.

English: http://www.icem.org/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3501-French-Plastics-Workers

This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter, which presents up-to-date information on collective bargaining developments across Europe. 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 2009. All rights reserved. The ETUI is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. The ETUI is financially supported by the European Community. The European Community is not responsible for any use made of the information contained in this news section.