Germany: agreement on employment reduction without layoffs at EON

No layoffs.  Opened in November 2011, the difficult negotiations on the social plan coming along the thousands of job cuttings announced by EON were finally completed on Tuesday, January 24.  Ehrard Ott, member of the board of the Verdi trade union, which was negotiating with the chemistry and energy union, IG BCE, said he was happy with the outcome.  “Job cuts will be covered by maximum social supervision and major future prospects for the employees concerned” he said.  The agreement released only concerns job cuts in Germany, i.e. about 6,000 of the 11,000 jobs EON wants to cut (out of a total workforce of 80,000).  Unions say that a major asset of the plan is that it should avoid any layoffs.  The restructuring plan, called “EON 2.0,” should cost about €1 billion.  This includes the social plan and the integration of the Ruhrgas and EON Energy subsidiaries.