29. 1. 2004

Collective agreement in CEZ signed

Representatives of the CEZ power company management and 22 trade union units of CEZ have signed a collective agreement for 2004- 2006 today.

The collective agreement guarantees the employees of CEZ a minimal average wage rise by 5 per cent for this year, as was agreed with most of the trade union units already at the end of last year. The employer´s interest was to conclude the collective agreement, and thus finish the collective negotiations, which were accompanied also by pressure campaigns. The employer and the trade unions, as agreed already at the end of last year, found a solution to the issue of holiday and Christmas pays in relation to achieved economic results, i.e. these parts of wages will increase if the economic results surpass the assumed objectives, and conversely they will decrease adequately in case of unfulfilled plans. The holiday and Christmas pays will then reach 40 per cent of the wages.  

The CEZ power company makes high qualification, technical, and professional demands on its employees, for which they are adequately remunerated. The wage terms and social benefits in CEZ rank among the best in the Czech Republic.

For this reason the employer could not give in to the pressure to increase the growth of the salary scales, and chose the agreement about incentive rises dependent on the company´s results.

In accordance with the company social policy the company provides our employees with an additional week of holiday, as compared to The Labour Act, financially supports recreational, medical, therapeutic stays, and children´s holidays, catering, contributory pension scheme, healthcare programs, electricity consumption, etc. The amount of pay-offs for employees dismissed for re-organizational reasons, which is embodied in the collective agreement and depends on the length of the employment, is also above the usual standards.

As of the end of the previous year, the number of people employed by the CEZ power company was 6 780, and this number should be cut down to 6 630 by the beginning of next year. In 1992, when the CEZ was founded, there were 16 407 employees.

Ladislav Kriz, Press Officer, CEZ, a. s.