The participating union representatives were:

From Germany:

- Birgit Steinborn - Robert Kensbock - Bettina Haller - Harald Kern - Bettina Müller - Mimon Uhamou as members of the Negotiating Committee of the Works Council of Siemens Germany,

- Ev Zirkler from the office of the Works Council of Siemens Germany, and

- Dirk Linder from IG Metall.

From India:

- Girish Ashtekar, General Secretary of the „<link http: www.siemensworkersunion.com _blank external-link-new-window>Siemens Workers´ Union“ and the „Siemens Employees´ Federation“
- Mahesh Sawant Patel, President of the „Siemens Workers´ Union“
- M. Subbukani, Vice President of the „Siemens Workers´ Union“
- Bhaskar Kotwal, Secretary of the „Siemens Workers´ Union“
- Anjayya Rondi, Treasurer of the „Siemens Workers´ Union“
- Kirit Singh Dodiya, Union Representative from the turbine factory in Vadodara
- Dattu Bhande, Secretary of the „Siemens Workers´ Union“ from the switchgear factory in Aurangabad
- Rakesh Manjrekar, Secretary of the „Siemens Workers´ Union“ from the motor factory in Thane
- Shriram Londhe, Secretary of the „Siemens Workers´ Union“ from the transformer factory in Thane
- Manoj Bodke, Secretary of the „Siemens Workers´ Union“ from the switchboard factory in Thane
- Vijay Gawande, Secretary of the „Siemens Workers´ Union“ from the switchgear factory in Thane
- Ashok Ghuge, Secretary of the „Siemens Workers´ Union“ from the drives factory in Nashik
- Prabir Maity, Union Representative from the Flender gearbox factory in Kharagpur
- C.H. Kalebu, Union Representative from the high voltage isolator factory in Hyderabad

Participants from IndustriAll:

- Kan Matsuzaki, Director, and Praveen Rao, Project Secretary

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Birgit Steinborn opened the meeting and reminded of Uday Mahale, who passed away last year and who earned great merits for his efforts to build up and bring together the unions at Siemens in India.

She also explained the background of the Siemens IFA. The meeting in India is the fourth meeting under the IFA.

She then gave comments on the current situation at Siemens, especially the changes in the company structure. These concern mainly the divisions Healthcare, Wind Power and Mobility, but more are likely to follow and so, this development is leading to a general change. This is critical for the influence of the employees´ representatives on the company´s strategy, because more and more business sectors leave the range of the Supervisory Board of Siemens in Germany.

Birgit Steinborn and Robert Kensbock explained the German system of employees´ representation and the cooperation of unions and Works Councils in Germany and especially at Siemens.

Kan Matsuzaki and Praveen Rao gave some information about the activities of IndustriAll in general and especially in India.

The union representatives from India then presented their locations and their main union issues.

At Nashik, still the majority of workers is employed as “Executive Officers” (although working as common workers). By this measure, these workers are excluded from the possibility of joining a union. This is a clear violation of Indian law and the Siemens IFA. A lawsuit is pending since 2007. This practice had also been used at Kalwa (Thane), but the union has been able to resolve the issue there. Now, there is a union representation and a collective agreement for all four factories in Kalwa (Thane).

At Vadodara, Kharagpur and Hyderabad, some of the employees have to retire at the age of 58. This reduces their income and is unfair compared to the vast majority of the Siemens employees in India, who retire at the age of 60. The workers at Hyderabad are excluded from the profit share program of Siemens India.

Girish Ashtekar summarized the main demands of the union representatives:

- The Siemens Employees´ Federation should be recognized by Siemens as the national representation of the workers of Siemens India.
- No worker of Siemens India should be forced to retire before the age of 60.
- All workers, who are working for Siemens in India, should get the same standard of food at the canteens, including the contract workers.
- The Siemens IFA should be published at all sites of Siemens India, not only at the sites with a union representation.

On the second day of the meeting, the union representatives met with the management.

The participants from the management side were:

- Mrs. Kugel, Board member and Chief HR Officer, - Dr. Wallisch, Executive Vice President HR, - Mrs. Günther, CHR, - Mr. Mathur, CEO Siemens India, - Mr. Shankar, Executive Vice President HR Siemens India, - Mr. Deshmukh, General Manager HR Siemens India

Mrs. Kugel gave some information about the general situation of the company. Mr. Mathur talked about Siemens India. He emphasized especially the good chances for Siemens deriving from the “Made in India” policy of the Indian government.

Girish Ashtekar mentioned the improvement of the relationship between unions and management at Siemens in India. He demanded the recognition of the Siemens Employees´ Federation as the representation of the employees of Siemens on national level. He also reclaimed an equal retirement age for all employees and the same standard of food at the Siemens canteens for everybody who works for Siemens. All employees should take part in the profit sharing program. He also mentioned the issue of necessary transport opportunities for female workers, especially for safety reasons. The pending lawsuits that local unions have taken to court against the company should be settled by internal negotiations.

Mrs. Kugel, Mr. Mathur and Mr. Shankar replied that all these issues can be solved by internal agreements. Birgit Steinborn gave the support of the Negotiating Committee of the Works Council of Siemens Germany for the internal negotiations. She also said, that the representatives from Germany would come back to India, if there will be no solutions.