OREANDA-NEWS. Volkswagen and IG Metall brought their negotiations on the company collective agreement to a successful conclusion in Hanover on Wednesday night. There is to be a 3.4 percent increase in base pay effective June 1, 2015. The company is also to pay €450 to the company pension scheme. Furthermore, Volkswagen AG will be offering 1,400 apprenticeships in the future. In addition, the negotiating parties agreed that they would start a constructive dialog on the future-oriented “Gute Arbeit” (good work) plan this year.

Dr. Horst Neumann, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft responsible for Human Resources, said: "The agreement we have reached represents a compromise that is just about acceptable and allows us to maintain our competitiveness in a difficult economic environment at the same time as rewarding the performance of our employees. In addition to increasing base pay, Volkswagen is also improving the retirement provision of its employees. By agreeing to provide 1,400 apprenticeships each year, we will ensure that a large number of young people continue to benefit from first-class future-oriented vocational training opportunities in the future."

The main points of the agreement reached are as follows:

Pay increase: The base pay of employees covered by the collective agreement is to rise by 3.4 percent from June 1, 2015. "Volkswagen und IG Metall took into account the difficult situation on many markets and tough competition in the automotive sector," said the chief negotiator for Volkswagen, Martin Rosik, Head of Human Resources of the Volkswagen Passenger Car Brand. "The pay agreement will bring employees a perceptible increase in income and is also based on the economic performance capabilities of the industry."

Retirement provision element: Volkswagen will pay €450 to the company pension plan (participation pension II) of its full-time employees (April 2015: €200, January 2016: €250). Part-time employees will receive a pro-rata amount in line with their working hours. Apprentices and students on dual study programs will receive a total amount of €150.

Future-oriented “Gute Arbeit” (good work) plan: In view of the steadily progressing digitalization of the world of work in offices and factories, the collective bargaining parties have agreed to start discussions on the following topics: Staying healthy at work; improving the work/life balance; innovative training and qualifications; developments in retirement provision; modern work organization and flexibility. Any agreements reached on the basis of these discussions will give equal priority to safeguarding employment and competitiveness.

Training: From 2015, Volkswagen AG will be offering 1,400 apprenticeships per year. These include training opportunities for students on dual study programs. This agreement covers the Wolfsburg, Brunswick, Hanover, Salzgitter, Emden and Kassel plants and will apply until 2017. Student contributions to be paid by students on dual study programs will be paid by Volkswagen AG up to a lump sum of €350 gross per semester.

Term of collective agreement: The new collective agreement has a term of 15 months (March 1, 2015 to May 31, 2016). Rosik: "This means that we once again stay very close to the regional collective agreement. In future, we want to continue the negotiation of our collective agreement in a comparable economic policy environment to our competitors."

Scope: The collective agreement of Volkswagen AG applies to about 115,000 employees at the Wolfsburg, Brunswick, Hanover, Salzgitter, Emden and Kassel plants as well as Volkswagen Financial Services AG.