Association of employed academics and executives in the chemical industry
The association of employed academics and executives of the chemical industry e. V. is a German federal association and at the same time a trade union for managers and junior managers in chemistry and related areas.
The registered association is the largest professional association of management and management trainees in Germany . Around 30,000 natural scientists, engineers and businesspeople who work as non-tariff or executive employees in responsible positions in the chemical industry have come together in the VAA to represent common economic, social and legal interests. The association forms a social partnership with the Federal Chemical Employers' Association (BAVC) and the Mining, Chemical and Energy Industrial Union (IG BCE) affiliated to the German Federation of Trade Unions (DGB ). Together with IG BCE, the VAA represents employee interests in the chemical industry.
history
On May 10, 1919, the “Association of employed academics and engineers” (Budaci) was founded in Halle / Saale. In 1933, the National Socialist government was forced to dissolve . It was re-established in 1946. In 1972, the delegates' conference decided to change the name to “Association of employed academics and senior employees in the chemical industry”. After the merger with the "Association of Executives of the Chemical Industry of the GDR" (VFCI), the association has been operating under the name VAA since 1991.
Structure and organization
Around 84 percent of the VAA members - especially in the larger chemical companies - have organized themselves in one of the 190 plant groups. There are larger groups of plants in the following companies: BASF , Bayer , Clariant , Evonik , Henkel , Merck , Roche Diagnostics , Sanofi and Wacker . Employees from smaller companies are primarily members of the association as individual members. Work groups and individual members are regionally united in one of the eight national groups.
The highest decision-making body of the VAA is the delegates' conference, at which up to 200 representatives from the state and plant groups define the basic lines of the association's policy. The board consists of seven volunteers and is elected for three years. He heads the VAA and is supported by the advisory board , to which each of the nine regional groups sends a representative, and by commissions . First chairman is BASF manager Rainer Nachtrab, second chairman is Daniele Bruns from the Darmstadt chemical and pharmaceutical company Merck . The treasurer is Ruth Kessler from Bayer AG in Leverkusen . Chistoph Gürtler ( Covestro ), Roland Leroux ( Schott ) and Thomas Sauer ( Evonik ) also belong to the Executive Board . From 2011 until his resignation in May 2019, Frédéric Donié ( Roche Diagnostics ) was also a member of the Executive Board.
The association's business is carried out by full-time employees in the office in Cologne and in the Berlin office. The chief executive is Gerhard Kronisch . Klaus Bernhard Hofmann is the press spokesman.
Advocacy
As a professional association, the VAA represents the interests of executives in the chemical industry and related branches. The local VAA work groups look after the members there individually and form the organizational infrastructure of the association's work. At the same time they are the substructure for the representative body of the executive staff, the speaker committee, as well as for the representatives of the association in the works council and supervisory board . The VAA's task is to enforce the concerns of executives in tax, social and environmental policy as well as in legislation . At the association level, the VAA represents its members across companies and industries through the conclusion of collective agreements and through discussions and negotiations with other chemical organizations.
The VAA is negotiating the “collective agreement on minimum annual salaries for academically trained employees in the chemical industry” with the Federal Chemical Employers' Association (BAVC). Here the starting salaries for academics with a scientific or technical university degree are set.
The "collective wage agreement for academically trained employees in the chemical industry" regulates general working conditions . Often these are cheaper than those required by law. This applies, for example, to the notice periods. The rules on compensation for a non-competition clause , which restricts employees in their professional activity for the period after the employment relationship has ended, are also much better in the general collective bargaining agreement than the statutory provisions provide. Both collective agreements only apply to members of the VAA.
The VAA is supported in its political work by the German Executive Association ULA . Via the ULA, the VAA is represented in the Association of European Managers Confédération Européenne des Cadres (CEC) based in Brussels . There is also direct membership in the umbrella organization of European chemical managers, the Fédération Européenne des Cadres de la Chimie et des Industries Annexes (FECCIA), Paris .
The VAA advises and represents its members in matters of professional life . The VAA organizes advanced training seminars for managers in chemistry through the Management Institute (FKI) .
Survey
The VAA organizes several surveys: every year an income survey is carried out among the members of the association, which is also organized jointly with the Society of German Chemists. A well-being survey is also carried out annually, which asks about the company's working conditions and personnel strategies. On the basis of the results of this survey, the "German Chemistry Prize Cologne" is awarded. An equal opportunity survey, a student survey among the student members (every five years, most recently at the end of 2014) and a pensioner survey are carried out every several years.
Publications
The VAA's association publications include the VAA magazine, which appears six times a year, the monthly VAA newsletter and a series of brochures on labor and social law issues.
The members receive the results of the VAA income survey every year, and every three years information on the development of pensions and equal opportunities. Chemistry and engineering students and graduates also receive information about employment opportunities and career paths in the chemical industry.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ VAA - chemical managers: chemical managers: board. Retrieved March 20, 2018 .
- ↑ VAA - chemical executives: chemical executives: management. Retrieved March 20, 2018 .
- ↑ VAA - Chemical managers: Chemical managers: Press team. Retrieved March 20, 2018 .
- ↑ Management Institute GmbH: Organization: The Management Institute FKI. Retrieved April 23, 2018 .
- ↑ Presentation of the surveys on the VAA homepage, accessed July 24, 2017
- ↑ Chemistry is when it stinks - the managers, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung July 20, 2017 (print version), accessed July 24, 2017 (report on the 2017 survey)