Employee Representation

GRI 102-41, GRI 102-43, GRI 103-1, GRI 103-2, GRI 103-3

WACKER works with the employee representatives in a spirit of cooperation and trust. Industrial union membership has always been high among WACKER employees, especially at the German sites. However, employees are under no obligation to inform their employer of any union membership, and the employer is not permitted to ask. We therefore do not know how many union members there are at WACKER. Approximately 90 percent of our employees worldwide work in organizational units that have employee representation and are subject to collective-bargaining regulations.

Where a collective-bargaining agreement exists on the employer’s side, WACKER employment contracts treat staff based in Germany – regardless of their union membership – as if they were covered by the respective applicable collective-bargaining agreement.

DRAWIN Vertriebs-GmbH elected its own employee council in 2016 for the first time, as did Wacker Biotech GmbH’s Halle site, which was acquired in 2014. All of Wacker Chemie AG’s sites in Germany now have employee representation.

WACKER employees at sites outside Germany can also form unions. At non-German sites without (statutory or voluntary) employee representation, HR staff members are the contacts for employee interests.