Nordex reaches agreement with labor union

After last year’s conflict escalation, an agreement is reached with an 8% wage increase and a shorter working week for almost 1,000 employees in Northern Germany.
Photo: Ig Metall
Photo: Ig Metall

IG Metall and Nordex have reached their first collective agreement. Nearly 1,000 employees at the wind turbine manufacturer’s home base in Rostock are covered by the agreement, which among other things has resulted in a wage increase of 8% for permanent employees with retroactive effect from the turn of the year and a reduction of the working week to 39 hours from June 1. In addition, there is a special payment to two-thirds of the employees in 2024 and 2025.

”Together, we have made great efforts to find a solution that was sustainable for all parties: on the one hand, we have raised the wages of the skilled production employees to the current market level, and on the other hand, we wanted to increase the competitiveness of Nordex in Rostock,” says HR manager at Nordex, Constantin Baltzer.

The North German port city has been the center of Nordex’s production since the turbine manufacturer shifted ownership and focus from Denmark in the late 1990s. Among other things, it is also where the upcoming largest turbine in the catalog, the N175, will be mass-produced. However, Nordex has been criticized by unions for moving large parts of production to Asia, even though the domestic market is the largest.

Prior to the conclusion of the collective agreement, IG Metall has been criticizing Nordex for both low wages and excessive outsourcing of jobs for more than six months. Along the way, with strikes in both October and December.

”The six-month-long negotiations were difficult but fair. What remains is a compromise that means a significant boost in income for most colleagues, while at the same time reducing the working week,” concludes IG Metall’s Rostock-Stettin director, Stefan Schad.

It’s not just Nordex that IG Metall has had protracted battles with. In late 2022, the conflict between the union and Vestas escalated, resulting in several rounds of strikes. Finally, an agreement was reached last summer after a large part of the Danish turbine manufacturer’s German employees had been off work for more than 120 days. 

Translated using DeepL with additional editing by Kristoffer Grønbæk

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On June 1, Senvion's former CFO Manav Sharma started as US country manager for Nordex. Soon he will have a new factory at his disposal. | Foto: Senvion

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