After more than 15 months of negotiations and disputes, the management of Jenoptik AG, the major east German technology firm, and the IG Metall and DAG trade unions signed a new company agreement in December 1999.
On 15 December 1999, the executive board of the largest east German technology corporation Jenoptik AG and the IG Metall metalworkers' union, together with the German White Collar Workers' Union (Deutsche Angestelltengewerkschaft, DAG), concluded a new company agreement for the employees of the Jenoptik administrative centre and the Jenoptik establishments in Jena (Thuringia). The negotiations over this new company agreement took more than 15 months and were accompanied by various disputes and workers' protests.
The negotiating parties initially seemed to have unbridgeable differences between their positions. While IG Metall demanded a new "recognition agreement" (Anerkennungstarifvertrag) under which the company would apply the provisions of the existing branch-level agreements in metalworking, Jenoptik management sought a totally different deal which would have been very much influenced by the so-called "Phoenix agreement" – a hotly disputed collective agreement signed in 1998 by the east German metalworking employers' association, Ostmetall, and the small Christian Metalworkers' Union (Christliche Gewerkschaft Metall, CGM) (DE9806167F).
While the negotiations with IG Metall and DAG continued, Jenoptik suddenly announced in March 1999 the conclusion of a new company agreement with the minority CGM union (DE9904297N). The Jenoptik management praised this new agreement for providing far-reaching working time flexibility and the introduction of a new performance-related pay system. In contrast, IG Metall as well as the large majority of the Jenoptik workforce sharply criticised the agreement for bringing about a significant deterioration of working conditions.
After various workers' protests and demonstrations, Jenoptik management and IG Metall and DAG continued their negotiations and finally concluded a new company agreement. The main provisions of the new agreement, which has a duration of four years, are:
- a 3.2% pay increase from 1 January 1999 (backdated) until 30 June 2000. Thereafter, both parties agree to start new negotiations for further wage increases;
- a regular working week of 38 hours which can be reduced or extended for a maximum of six hours at establishment level. On a yearly basis, this corresponds to a working time "corridor" of between 1,670 and 2,300 hours;
- a step-by-step transformation of the traditional holiday and Christmas bonuses into a performance-related yearly bonus. From 2000, half of the holiday and Christmas bonuses will be related to company performance. This proportion will increase to 75% from 2001 and to 100% from 2002;
- the introduction of a new grading system which reduces the number of grades and abolishes the old distinction between blue- and white-collar workers; and
- the introduction of a special clause for the "safeguarding of production sites" (Standortsicherungsklausel) which obliges the management to make no redundancies for economic reasons from 1 October 1999 to 31 March 2001.
According to the Jenoptik personnel manager, Heinz Schleef, the new company agreement repeats the main provisions of the earlier CGM company agreement, with far-reaching working time flexibility and new performance-related pay components. On the other hand, the new company agreement also retains some links with the existing branch-level agreements in east German metalworking, such as the agreed pay increase and the definition of a regular working time of 38 hours per week. Furthermore, the introduction of a limited jobs guarantee is a substantial improvement for the employees.