On August 29, 2013 the Defense & Civil Systems division of Jenoptik, the Works Council and the IG Metall union reached a consensus in their negotiations to align their interests. The key outcome is the decision to retain the Essen location.
To safeguard the future of the Jenoptik locations in Essen and Wedel near Hamburg, the negotiating parties agreed on the following key points:
The Essen location will be retained. Employees will not be subject to termination of employment for operational reasons for the term of the collective agreement, unless key operational changes are required. The wage increase for the 2013 collective bargaining round will be suspended. The weekly working hours will be increased by one hour to 36 hours per week without an increase in wages. The new collective agreement is valid from July 1, 2013 to December 31, 2019 for the Essen and Wedel locations.
The Essen location currently employs 69 staff, while 498 staff are employed at the Wedel location.
The negotiating parties agreed that radical measures are required to ensure that there is a significant improvement in the competitiveness and efficiency of the division's processes.
"The negotiations resulted in a commercially sustainable yet socially acceptable solution that provides positive prospects for our employees in Essen and Wedel for the next six and a half years", said Jenoptik CEO Michael Mertin. "The ongoing and consistent improvement in our processes and cost structures will improve our performance in the long-term, allowing the Jenoptik division and its products to remain internationally competitive in the future."