IG Metall - Volkswagen AG Single company agreement settled

1. Today, IG Metall and Volkswagen AG (VW) settled an agreement on wages, working time, cost reduction and employment security for 103.000 employees at six pro-duction sites.

2. Main content of the new agreement:

2.1. Pay
- 1000 € lump sum pay in March 2005, but no increase of the standard wages as they are defined in the wage brackets till 31. 1. 2007 .
- new payment system for newly hired employees . The level of that new pay system is below the existing pay level of Volkswagen but above the level of the regional standard wages of Lower Saxony

2.3. Working time
- flexible working hours: new working time arrangement which allows a width of plus/minus 400 hours (on basis of a working time accounts system).
- Overtime premium only in case of exceeding the 400 hours from the 35th hour on-wards.
- new possibility for accumulating working time in order to use it for early retirement (saving working time till the end of the career): each employee is allowed to “save” each year up to 66 hours worked and to put it into a working time bank.

2.2. Job security
- job security for all location of production in Germany till 31.12. 2011.
- concrete commitment of VW to invest and to produce certain models of cars at the domestic locations
- monitoring of the agreement on investment/production by works councils.

Rudolf Welzmüller Department of Collective Bargaining IG Metall, Frankfurt 2004-11-03