HMR deal a win for workers

18 May 1998 00:00  [Source: ICB]

The five-year pact between Hoechst Marion Roussel (HMR) Deutschland and employee representatives at the Frankfurt R&D site is a victory for the workforce, works council president Arnold Weber has said.

The agreement, in effect since 1 May, 'would not have happened without employee protests over plans to cut 600 jobs', Weber said.

HMR's German chief executive officer, Heinz-Werner Meier, conceded that management had realised that cutting 600 jobs in Frankfurt 'did not make sense' and that the annual cost reduction target of DM85m ($47.17m) could be met 'in other ways'.

While Weber remarked that HMR Germany has shown more sensitivity to employee concerns than global management, Ralf Sikorski of the chemical union IG BCE suggested that the pact, scheduled to run to the end 2002, could serve as a model for the rest of the group.

After 290 jobs are cut through natural wastage or transfers within the company, there are to be no compulsory redundancies. Exceptions can be made in financial emergencies, but Meier said this is unlikely to happen, barring major changes in the structure of the company.

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