Warning strikes by IG Metall in the Bavarian metal and electrical industry continue on Wednesday. Companies in Swabia and Franconia are particularly affected. According to the reports, 19 companies throughout Bavaria are to take part in the warning strikes.
The largest union in Germany is demanding 8 percent more money for the approximately 855,000 employees in the Bavarian metal and electrical industry over a period of twelve months. Around 1,200 employees at Fendt in Swabia want to stop working. With the warning strikes, IG Metall wants to increase the pressure on employers in order to get a better offer in the next round of negotiations.
Employers reject this demand as excessive, since the industry, like the economy as a whole, is facing a recession and has hardly any financial leeway. The demand from IG Metall is the highest in the industry since 2008.
The IG Metall chairman Jörg Hofmann has therefore repeatedly demanded state aid for households, including an energy price brake, and warned to hurry.
In Hamburg, IG Metall district leader Daniel Friedrich said to the strikers on Saturday: “Apart from a one-off payment, the employers have so far not had anything concrete to offer.
According to Baden-Württemberg IGM district manager Roman Zitzelsberger, who is conducting negotiations with the employers’ association Südwestmetall, further walkouts can be planned for the next two to three weeks.
The original article in German was first published in Spiegel.
