bsn

On 1st May 2025, Ivonne Arenz (Figure 1) took over as managing director of the Association for Mining, Geology and the Environment (VBGU), Berlin/Germany. She succeeded Olaf Alisch, who is now taking well-deserved retirement after almost 20 years of successful service to the VBGU. “Thanks to European regulations and in view of the global constraints, the topic of “domestic mining” is increasingly coming to the fore. This is a good thing and must be supported even more clearly by the new federal government. The complex transformation tasks require raw materials, and Germany, with its sometimes considerable raw material deposits, can make a significant contribution to European raw material independence. However, raw material extraction and processing require changed framework conditions, such as faster approval procedures, the removal of bureaucratic hurdles and acceptance by the population. I am very much looking forward to working on this,” said Arenz on her election by the VBGU Executive Board.

Arenz brings comprehensive expertise and an extensive network to the raw materials and sustainability industry. She studied law at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena/Germany and completed her legal clerkship in Berlin. She has worked for various industry associations as well as for the Federal Company for Final Storage (BGE). Most recently, she was managing director of the Federal Association for Mineral Raw Materials. Her expertise ranges from national and European energy and environmental law to spatial planning and mining law. She is also familiar with sustainability issues and has already worked in this context for the Thuringian Ministry of Economics and the Federal Ministry of Economics, and recently developed a sustainability guide for the rock industry. Arenz will work closely with the industry association Steinkohle und Nachbergbau (BSN) on behalf of member companies in the post-mining sector. (VBGU/Si.)

On 29th July 2022, the presidents of the  industry association Branchenverband Steinkohle und Nachbergbau e. V. (bsn), Essen/Germany, and the Association of Mining, Geology and Environment (VBGU), Berlin/Germany, sealed the closer cooperation between their associations by signing a cooperation agreement (Figure 1). The two associations will more closely coordinate the representation of interests for mining companies and those no longer engaged in raw material extraction. Both partners want to jointly provide services for their member companies in questions of active mining as well as post-mining in the future. The exchange and cross-association positioning will initially take place in two joint committees dealing with the topics of mine water management and old mining and land reclamation.

The bsn is an industry and employers’ association and assumes responsibilities in social self-administration, is the collective agreement partner for the German coal mining industry in the post-mining era and supports its members in questions of company pension schemes.

The VBGU is an employers’ association and comprehensively represents the general business and socio-political and collective agreement interests of its members. It supports them in research and development and in vocational and advanced training and secures their access to economic and political decision-makers at the national and state levels. (bsn/VBGU/Si.)

The industry association Branchenverband Steinkohle und Nachbergbau e. V. (bsn), Essen/Germany, and the Association of Mining, Geology and Environment (VBGU), Berlin/Germany, have come to agreement on the occasion of the DMT MiningForum in May 2022 in Berlin to cooperate more closely with each other in future. Details will be set in the coming weeks, and a resolution concerning the decision will be adopted by the governing bodies of the partners. The focus of the planned cooperation will initially be in the areas of mine water management, legacy mine management and area recultivation.

The objective of the cooperation is the reinforcement of the representation of the interests of the mining companies and companies that are no longer engaged in raw material extraction. Both partners want to provide services for their member companies related to issues of active mining and of post-mining.

The bsn has been active since 1st March 2021 as the industry association Steinkohle und Nachbergbau – formerly Gesamtverband Steinkohle (GVSt). It is an industry and employers’ association and assumes responsibilities in social self-administration, is the collective agreement partner for the German coal mining industry in the post-mining era and supports its members in questions of company pension schemes.

The VBGU is an employers’ association and comprehensively represents the general business and socio-political and collective agreement interests of its members.

It supports them in research and development and in vocational and advanced training and secures their access to economic and political decision-makers at the national and state levels. (bsn/VBGU/Si.)

On 25th August 2021, the industry association Branchenverband Steinkohle und Nachbergbau e. V. (bsn), Essen/Germany, and the German Trade Union for Mining, Chemicals and Energy (IG BCI), Hanover/Germany, signed the “Coal post-mining” collective agreement (Figure 1). Almost three years after coal production ceased in Germany, this marks the transition of collective bargaining regulations into the post-mining era and will help shape the future of RAG Aktiengesellschaft.

The provisions enter into force on 1st January 2022 and replace the collective bargaining regulations that have been in place in the German coal mining industry since 1919 – and developed over time – with a completely new system.

For employees, the new collective agreement includes modern pay and working conditions, including a uniform remuneration system that no longer differentiates between salaried employees and workers on an hourly wage. Employers and employee representatives also agreed on variable remuneration that guarantees a 5 % increase in income until 2024. Furthermore, both sides agreed on a pension remuneration component of 750 € annually, which employees are to use on their own initiative and responsibility to put towards a private pension provision. The negotiating partners paid particular attention to flexible working conditions. Modern flexitime accounts are being introduced and employees can organise their working hours in a flexible manner. Going forward, employees will be able to take time off on an hourly basis as well, and not just by the day.

“I am delighted that, after 100 years, we are able to start a new chapter in our collective history and have come up with intelligent solutions that have enabled us to put together a forward-looking and attractive package for our employees,” says Michael Kalthoff, President of bsn. He explains that these new regulations take account of the changes in work and opportunities at RAG.

Ralf Sikorski, Member of the Board with responsibility for collective bargaining policy and Deputy Chairman of IG BCE emphasises: “Today is an historic day. After over 100 years, we are closing a chapter in collective bargaining history for an entire industry.” He stresses: “With this new collective agreement, we have laid the foundation for a fantastic future for our colleagues, combining real material improvements with innovative elements and making it easier to maintain a work/life balance.”

Particularly in view of the work ahead of RAG and its employees in the post-mining era, Chair of RAG Board of Management Peter Schrimpf views the collective negotiations as a success: “The collective agreement takes all interests into account. It creates excellent prospects for the company and its employees and will allow us to shape the future of RAG together.”

Chair of RAG General Works Council Susanne Hardies is of a similar mind: “We went into negotiations with the aim of ensuring that our colleagues will enjoy an attractive and social working environment with interesting opportunities in the future too. We were successful.” (bsn/Si.)

On 1st March 2021, the Hard Coal Association (Gesamtverband Steinkohle e. V. – GVSt), Essen/Germany, changed its name and has been operating under the designation Branchenverband Steinkohle und Nachbergbau e. V. (bsn) since this date. This renaming represents the association’s clarification of the changes in the focus of its work subsequent to the end of coal mining in Germany in 2018. Now, three years after the cessation of mining, the German coal mining industry has definitely arrived in the post-mining era. Today, coal policy and energy industry issues are taking a back seat as the industry is clearly focused on responsibly dealing with the -legacy issues and the so-called perpetual tasks. The association will continue to represent in future the interests of its members,
RAG Aktiengesellschaft, its subsidiaries and STEAG GmbH. The members wanted to make this shift in the association’s objectives recognisable and decided to change its name to bsn (Industry Association for Hard Coal and Post-Mining) (Figure 1).

Representing the interests of its members in all aspects of post-mining – clearly characterised by legal issues concerning dewatering, abandoned mines and surface recultivation – will be added to the association’s other tasks, which will remain unchanged. The bsn represents its members as an employers’ association, counsels them on questions of individual and collective labour law, including company pension schemes, and performs important tasks in social self-administration. It remains the collective bargaining party for its members bound by collective agreements and is currently negotiating with its collective bargaining partner, the Mining, Chemical and Energy Industrial Trade Union (IG BCE), on a new collective agreement for the hard coal industry. The objective is to replace the collective bargaining regulations for the industry that were concluded to cover traditional mining activities with a modern framework for the changed tasks of post-mining.

The German Hard Coal Mining Association (GVSt) was founded in 1968 as a federation of what were at that time regional associations of companies in German hard coal mining. Since its establishment, the GVSt has performed association tasks that were oriented to the general conditions for hard coal. In this role, it played a part in blazing the path to an orderly and socially acceptable end to German hard coal mining. In 2007, it began acting as the bargaining agent in lieu of the Business Association Hard Coal (UVSt) and changed its name to the short form Hard Coal Mining Association (GVSt) that had previously been established in common use. The merger of the long-established Association for Mining Interests (VbI) with the GVSt in 2009 completed the consolidation of the German hard coal mining industry’s cooperative organisations. The sharper focus on specific tasks and the organisation’s renaming as the Industry Association for Hard Coal and Post-Mining are the next steps in its adaptation to the general conditions in hard coal mining as the industry enters the post-mining era. (bsn/Si.)