Restructuring collective agreement of Praktiker AG in effect

Employees renounce to around five percent of their annual income



Hamburg - 27 October 2012. On Friday evening (26 October 2012), Praktiker AG and the ver.di trade union concluded a restructuring collective agreement on a temporary employee contribution to the restructuring of the Group. Based on this agreement, personnel expenses for the years 2012, 2013 and 2014 in Germany can be reduced by 17.3 million euro each. The agreement is coming into force with immediate effect.


This cost reduction is achieved by cutting all employee remunerations covered by collective wage agreements and those exempted from them by around five percent. With this measure, it is ensured that the employee contributions to the restructuring of the Group are adapted in a socially compatible way to the income levels. The necessary savings are mainly achieved by reducing or scrapping the Christmas pay as well as collective agreement-related or company-specific bonuses. For those employees with wages exempted from collective agreements, also bonus and profit sharing cutbacks are conceivable. Collectively agreed monthly salaries will not be affected by this agreement. In return, employees receive extensive workplace and employment protection during the term of the restructuring collective agreement.

"After securing the main cornerstones of the financing concept, this represents another milestone on the road towards restructuring our company and securing its future. By temporarily renouncing to part of their incomes, the employees of Praktiker AG in Germany are making an important contribution to securing jobs", stressed the CEO of Praktiker AG, Armin Burger. He thanked the wage bargaining committee form ver.di for their cooperative approach and always constructive negotiations that allowed arriving at this solution which is viable for both sides.

Negotiations with ver.di had started in April 2012 and could be concluded successfully on Friday evening shortly after the company had reached agreements with key investors and banks about the financing of the restructuring programme. In Germany, the Praktiker Group has a workforce totalling around 15,000 employees.

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