IG Metall - SIEMENS Special Agreement on job security and working time For the production plants of mobile-phones in Bocholt and Kamp-Lintfort.

1. IG Metall and SIEMENS settled an agreement (validity term two years) on job security and working time for the production plants of mobile-phones in Bocholt and Kamp-Lintfort. The existence of two plants of mobile-phone production in the western part of Germany (Bocholt and Kamp-Lintfort, North-Rhine-Westfalia) was threatened by a SIEMENS-Managemant plan to dislocate the production to Hungary.

2. The agreement contains concessions of the IG Metall on working time and wages and - on the other hand - the commitment of SIEMENS to undertake specific measures in order to secure production and employment. In detail:

2.1. Concessions of IG Metall ...
- working time increase form 35 to 40 hours weekly (1760 hours on an annual basis) without pay;
- substitution of the current payment of extra pay and fringe benefits (holiday payment; bonus payment) by a system of performance- and profit-related additional pay.

2.2. ... commitment of SIEMENS:
- to guarantee production and current employment level for at least two years (identical with the validity term of the agreement);
- investment in new products: 30 Million € in the business year 2004/2005;
- to build up new activities on the development of new products (so called “third generation” of mobile phone - UMTS) in Bocholt and Kamp-Lintfort;
- in-sourcing of currently from external sources provided consulting-services;
- training programmes for the employees.
Additionally: In a separately signed general agreement on “Employment security, competitiveness and innovation within the Siemens Company”, the SIEMENS-management binds himself to the validity of the branch collective agreement and acknowledges them as the basis of the regulation of working conditions.

3. The 35-hours-week is still the predominant working-time standard within SIEMENS-Company. Only 4000 employees out of 160.000 employees of the whole SIEMENS-Company work now - for two years - 40 hours without getting paid for the increase of 5 hours.

4. Short assessment:
- IG Metall had to pay a rather high price for securing employment and production. But the alternative was unemployment for 4000 people in a region with only few job opportunities.
- The commitment of SIEMENS to undertake certain measures to secure employment and production (see above) was a fundamental pre-condition for IG Metall to sign the agreement.
- The agreement is a specific case and does not indicate a general withdrawal from the 35-hour-week. The collective agreement on 35-hours is still valid for the overwhelming number of the workforce of SIEMENS.
- The solution found in that dispute with SIEMENS about mobile-phone production is not a blueprint for other cases in the metal industry.