SURTECO AG agrees company-based collective wage agreement for german sites

SURTECO AG and the industrial union for mining, chemicals and energy (IG BCE) concluded a company-based collective wage agreement (umbrella agreement/agreement on pay grades/collective agreement on pay) with effect from 1 January 2006. The key items in the pay agreements are an extension of the weekly working time without wage compensation, SURTECO-specific pay groups and pay rates, significantly improved flexibility with the use of overtime accounts and the possibility of adjusting weekly working times. Optimized shift allowances give the company the option of making better use of time for capital-intensive systems.

With effect from 1 January, 2006, the new wage contracts will be in-troduced in all German companies. This will bring about harmonization of the heterogeneous pay landscape that was in place at Surteco up to this point and will achieve a comparable pay structure at all sites in western Germany.

The social benefits acquired by employees will be largely secured under transition agreements, while at the same time achieving a future saving in personnel costs amounting to 15 % annually.

The agreements reached with the union (IG BCE) will result in a significant strengthening of the cost position for the German sites of SURTECO AG and its subsidiary companies. The competitiveness of SURTECO AG and its subsidiaries will therefore be improved over the long term.

SURTECO AG has its Head Office at Buttenwiesen-Pfaffenhoffen, Germany, and is also represented with subsidiaries in Sassenberg, Gladbeck, Nohra (Weimar), Dunningen, Kassel, Bönen and Hüllhorst.