|
|
 |
|
Politics |
 |
|
Every year, representatives of the HDH meet with representatives of the government, party leaders and fraction leaders at parliamentary conferences in Berlin. These meetings offer an excellent opportunity for presenting the specific concerns of the woodworking and furniture industry and placing them in their general economic context.
Representation of interests vis-a-vis politicians and administration specialists go far beyond the purely national level. Because many decisions of relevance for the businesses are reached at a European level, HDH maintains close contacts
there in order to be permanently where the action is taking place. In this way, the effects of European regulations for the various segments of the woodworking and furniture industry can be sounded.
Among the most recent important topics, for example, we would mention the machinery guidelines, the EU chemicals policy, the reduced Value Added Tax (VAT) for work-intensive services and the introduction of a “Made in Europe” product label. As a further far-reaching topic with direct effects for our member companies, the Eastern extension of the EU takes on an additional significance with the entry of more central and eastern european countries. In 2004,, a further 80 million people joined the 380 million in the EC. Not only will products be manufactured at favourable cost levels in these regions, but further investments will be made there and more will be consumed – all of which can be seen as a positive opportunity for our industry.
|
Wages Policy
The member companies of the woodworking and furniture industry provide employment for some 200,000 persons; further jobs are provided by the plastics processing industry. Pay agreements between employers and employees are
negotiated in the regional associations of the HDH. Since the merger of the former GHK (Wood and Plastics Workers’ Union) with the IG Metall (Industrial Metal Workers’ Union) in the year 2000, what is now the largest single trade union in
the DGB (Association of German Trade Unions) sets the course for pay policies on the employees’ side. However, this does not make matters simpler in every case, because the special conditions applying to the woodworking and furniture
industry can easily become lost from sight in the midst of the powerful combine of the metal workers.
Since 2002, employees have been legally entitled to “pay conversion.” In order to translate this entitlement into action at a company level, the HDH regional associations have concluded collective agreements on pay conversion with the IG Metall, thus giving employees in the industry the opportunity of converting part of their negotiated income into contributions to their company’s pension scheme. This extension of the company pension scheme is financed exclusively by the employees, so that – apart from administrative costs – no additional burden falls upon the employer. Almost all forms of future remuneration can be converted – for example, part of Christmas bonuses or holiday pay.
The employer engages to provide a means of implementation within the company pension scheme. Such a means of implementation can be, for instance, the company pension system MetallRente, established by the contracting parties of the metal and electrical industries. The woodworking and plastics industries have joined this system with their own scheme Altersvorsorge Holz und Kunststoffe, so that the benefits of the system are open to persons employed in the industry. Hence, every company in the industry is free to offer this option to its employees.
|
|
|
|
|
|
