Germany - Strike at RWE over pay offer - December 21, 2010

Services union ver.di along with the IG BCE union organised warning strikes across all departments of the RWE energy company on 16 and 17 December. The action involved around 6,000 workers and was in protest at the management’s offer of a 2.4% pay increase plus lump sum payment. The unions argue that this is an insult in view of the company’s massive profits and they have demanded a rise of 6.5%. A union spokesman stressed that the unions were mindful that customers would not be left without energy supply in the winter and that security at nuclear plants would be safeguarded.

English: http://www.epsu.org/cob/393; http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFWEA785820101216

German: http://presse.verdi.de/pressemitteilungen/showNews?id ...

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.