On Tuesday, 17 December, in Valmiera, AS VALMIERAS STIKLA ŠĶIEDRA Chairman of the Management Board Stefan Jugel and Member of the Management Board Ģirts Vēveris and Chairwoman of the Board of the Latvian Industrial Workers Trade Union Rita Pfeifere signed a general agreement for the glass fibre industry.

The purpose of this General Agreement is to promote mutual collaboration in the development of social dialogue to ensure labour rights, labour protection, labour productivity and favourable social environment for employees and enable sustainable and competitive growth of the glass fibre industry and regulation of the business environment.

“AS VALMIERAS STIKLA ŠĶIEDRA is the leader of the glass fibre industry in Latvia with the largest number of employees in the industry. We believe that we should lead the way and in good faith deal with matters that would allow improving employees” working conditions, promoting employee skill development and growth and addressing other job-related issues, such as transport options to get to work. With this Agreement we undertake to continue working on improvements ourselves and actively drive amendments to statutory regulations to ensure better conditions and benefits for the company and those employed in the industry,” said the Chairman of the Management Board of the company Stefans Jugels about the Agreement.

Dace Purmale, AS VALMIERAS STIKLA ŠĶIEDRA HR Director: “By signing the Agreement, we confirm and guarantee that remuneration of our employees is higher than the minimum monthly wage in the country. We have set our own minimum level for each position level category, which is different from the minimum wage established by the government. Taking into account that average remuneration in the company considerably exceeds the minimum monthly wage and subsequently the company pays more than average in taxes, working together with employee representatives we wish to achieve for the company better conditions in tax matters, which affect benefits that we are offering our employees, such as transport, training and working tools. Our employees are our priority, but each additional benefit entails considerable costs because we are a large team. We would like to receive at least some support from the state and amend the laws to ensure better conditions for the companies and allow them to give more to their employees.”

Rita Pfeifere, Chairwoman of the Board of the Latvian Industrial Workers Trade Union: “Signing of this General Agreement satisfies preconditions of Section 18 of the Labour Law related to turnover and number of employees. This is a very important step for the development of the industry, which was taken after long, constructive discussions.’

The General Agreement will come into effect in six months after its publication in the official bulletin of the Republic of Latvia Latvijas Vēstnesis and will be binding for three years from its effective date.

Please see general agreement document in an attachment.

About VALMIERA GLASS GROUP:
VALMIERAS STIKLA ŠĶIEDRA, AS and its subsidiaries (also VALMIERA GLASS GROUP or the GROUP) is one of the leading glass fibre manufacturers in Europe, with more than 55 years of experience in fiberglass production. VALMIERA GLASS GROUP's core business areas are glass fibre research, glass fibre product development, production and trade. VALMIERA GLASS GROUP is the only group in the world with a vertically integrated structure and a wide range of glass fibre products for the thermal insulation market with a temperature resistance up to 1250°C.

About the Latvian Industrial Workers Trade Union
The Latvian Industrial Workers Trade Union was founded in 1999. There are chemical, petrochemical, light industry and food industry trade unions working in the industry. Today the Union has members in more than 70 companies in Latvia. The Latvian Industrial Workers Trade Union is a voluntary, legally independent, democratic organisation.

Additional information:
AS VALMIERAS STIKLA ŠĶIEDRA
Tel.: +371 64202216
E-mail: latvia@valmiera-glass.com
www.valmiera-glass.com