Employee Representation

Our employees in Germany make use of their option to unionize. 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. Around 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 relevant applicable collective-bargaining agreement.

Every WACKER site in Germany has employee representatives. Elections are held on a regular basis, most recently in 2018. WACKER actively nurtures the social partnership. In the interests of the company’s employees, relations between management and employee representatives are close and constructive. Innovative and workable company agreements are one result of this dialogue. Since the start of the pandemic, general employee meetings have been held online.

WACKER employees abroad are free to unionize as well. At non-German sites where there is no (statutory or voluntary) employee representation, HR staff members are the contacts for employee interests.