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In 2005, Ems-Chemie announced that it would invest 40 million francs in new factories. Employees were required to make their own contribution: Weekly working hours were increased from 42 to 43 hours with the same pay.
Given international competitive pressure and high production costs in this country, the long-standing social partner Syna union approved regulations limited to two years.
The union terminated the collective bargaining agreement
However, in 2023, Ems employees will continue to work 43 hours a week. Syna doesn’t want to put up with this anymore. Two weeks ago, the union announced the termination of the collective bargaining agreement with Ems-Chemie at the end of 2023. “Despite numerous negotiation attempts to date, we have not succeeded in achieving a return to a normal situation of working 42 hours a week,” the justification read.
Fueling employee representatives’ frustration: Ems could easily absorb the reduction in working hours. Employees bring a million-dollar boon to group owners every year.
More dividends earned than all employees combined
For the 2022 financial year, shareholders received dividends of 468 million francs. In August there were 332 million francs for the main shareholders Magdalena Martullo-Blocher (54), Miriam Baumann-Blocher (48) and Rahel Blocher (46) alone.
For comparison: Personnel expenses for all 2,693 Ems employees amounted to approximately 246 million francs in 2022.
Considering this distribution, wouldn’t it be possible to adapt to the working hours of the staff?
Ems-Chemie interprets this situation as follows: “There is no change in the collective bargaining agreement for Ems employees because it continues to exist together with the other social partners.” However, the company notes that the 43 hours per week Syna is demanding includes legal lunches and short breaks. Additionally, the transition to a flexible working model had already been implemented in 2006. “Operating hours are quite common in the region,” the company says.
Those in charge at Ems appear to have accepted that the long-standing social partnership with the Syna union will end within three months.
Source :Blick
I’m Tim David and I work as an author for 24 Instant News, covering the Market section. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, my mission is to provide accurate, timely and insightful news coverage that helps our readers stay informed about the latest trends in the market. My writing style is focused on making complex economic topics easy to understand for everyone.
