German trade union IG BCE said on Tuesday it was seeking a 6% pay hike over twelve months for the roughly 550,000 workers in the chemicals sector. In the last wage round in 2011, the union and employers agreed a 4.1% increase for the sector over 15 months. IG BCE had been seeking a 7% raise. Negotiations for the chemicals sector are due to begin on April 17 in the state of Hesse.      

Wages for some 9 million German workers are up for negotiation in the months ahead. Germany's two biggest unions, IG Metall and Verdi, are seeking 6.5% pay rises for the 3.6 million workers in the engineering sector and 2 million in the public sector. History suggests the profitable engineering sector will probably get just over half that, putting the average negotiated raise for 2012 above both last year's 1.5% gain and an expected euro zone inflation rate of some 1.7%.