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IF Metall information on the Agreement on temporary layoffs
06 March 2009, 10:15 Hrs
EMCEF received extra some information about the agreement that was signed in Sweden on 2 March between IF Metall and employers' federations, Teknikarbetsgivarna (engineering employers), Metallgruppen (metal employers) and Industri- och kemigruppen (industry and chemical employers).
 The headlines of various media articles talk about an agreement that includes a reduction of wages. That is not correct. The agreement gives the employers and the trade unions an opportunity to agree on temporary layoffs for workers, with additional compensation coming from the employer. This is similar to systems in several other countries such as Germany (Kurtzarbeit), Belgium, France, Norway and Holland. The big difference with many other systems is that, here, IF Metall has made an agreement with the employers and that the employers will pay the additional cost.
According to the agreement it is possible to, instead of making workers redundant, agree on reduced working hours, use unemployment time for education or other arrangements where workers will keep their employment. At the same time, workers will be compensated with 80% of the regular salary. The condition for such a solution is that there needs to be a local agreement (plant level) between the union and the employer.
Click here for the agreement [EN].
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