Joint event on the regional implementation of BETV

Together with the regional employers' associations of the paper and pulp industry, the IGBCE and the association DIE PAPIERINDUSTRIE e. V. opened the regional implementation of the federal wage agreement in the nine collective bargaining districts of the industry on 25 January 2023 in the paper centre in Gernsbach. In addition to the contents of the new federal wage agreement for the approximately 46,000 employees in the paper and pulp industry, the more than 90 participants from the industry's collective bargaining committees at the federal and state level dealt in particular with the challenges for collective bargaining policy in times of demographic change and transformation.

After a keynote speech by Matthias Walter, head of the papermaking school Gernsbach - Schulzentrum Papiertechnik, a discussion round followed. On the IGBCE side, Ralf Sikorski, vice-chairman, and Frieder Weißenborn, industry negotiator, exchanged views with Martin Krengel, chairman of the Collective Bargaining Policy and Education Committee and vice-president of DIE PAPIERINDUSTRIE, and Ulrich Wienbeuker, vice-chairman of the committee and member of the executive committee of the industry's umbrella organisation, on the associated opportunities for collective bargaining and social partnership. Krengel and Sikorski jointly emphasised: "With the adoption of the federal collective wage agreement, we have achieved an important step forward in the personnel policy transformation of the pulp and paper industry. The collective agreement lays the foundation for a modern education system and strengthens the attractiveness of the industry."

Last year, the IGBCE and the association DIE PAPIERINDUSTRIE agreed for the first time on a uniform national collective wage agreement for the approximately 46,000 workers in the paper and pulp industry. The collective agreement came into force on 1 October 2022 and will now be implemented in the next step in the nine regional collective bargaining districts of the industry. As soon as the implementation has been successfully completed in all collective bargaining districts, the new collective agreement will be introduced in the companies. The new forward-looking collective agreement on wages and salaries replaces the previous different regional regulations on grouping in companies. With this new uniform national pay framework agreement, the parties to the collective agreement are jointly pursuing the goal of creating a modern collective agreement that is equally attractive for employees and companies in the sector.