Hamburger Hafen und Logistik Aktiengesellschaft (HHLA) and the trade union ver.di have concluded a social and change collective agreement. With this agreement, the company and its employees receive binding legal and planning security for the implementation of transformation projects. This will strengthen the competitive edge of HHLA and secure jobs in the Port of Hamburg over the long term.
The new social and change collective agreement forms the basis for the implementation of key efficiency-boosting and modernisation measures for HHLA in Hamburg. The aim is to further strengthen structures and processes to meet customer requirements in order to be able to keep pace with the increasing demands of global competition. These include, among other things, the cross-terminal deployment of employees between any HHLA container terminals in the Port of Hamburg, as well as targeted investments in employee qualifications.
Torben Seebold, HHLA Chief Human Resources Officer, and lead negotiator: “This long-term collective agreement forms the basis for the accelerated implementation of key transformation projects, thereby ensuring the future viability of HHLA and our employees. Together, we have achieved our goal of placing people at the centre of the transformation while simultaneously enhancing HHLA’s competitiveness. To this end, we are combining the necessary operational changes resulting from automation and process optimisation with comprehensive training measures and clear commitments to social security. This creates promising prospects for HHLA and our employees in a dynamic market environment.”
The collective agreement with ver.di is complimented by agreements signed today with the HHLA Group Works Council and the respective works council committees of the company. These agreements will enable the implementation of the planned measures.
HHLA is confident that these steps will not only strengthen the company but also the future viability of the Port of Hamburg as a significant logistics hub in Europe.
