Collective bargaining in the metal and electrical industry is progressing slowly. There is still no offer from employers. IG Metall reacted angrily – and threatened to go on warning strikes.
Böblingen (dpa / lsw) – The collective bargaining for the approximately one million employees in the metal and electrical industry in the southwest will go into the third round on Thursday in Böblingen (1 p.m.). The district manager of IG Metall, Roman Zitzelsberger, asked the employers’ association Südwestmetall to submit an offer. “So far they have not used the peace obligation. However, I fear that we will not come to an agreement. That is why we have prepared intensively for warning strikes.”
Zitzelsberger said that the goal was clear: “We need a good result quickly for the sustainable stabilization of the purchasing power of employees.” In the industry with almost four million employees nationwide, the peace obligation expires on Friday. From Saturday, warning strikes are possible, for example, at car manufacturers, machine builders or other metal companies. The action plans of IG Metall, which is demanding 8.0 percent more money, are already in full swing. The first shifts could be canceled as early as Saturday night (October 29th).
Before that, however, the regional negotiators in the tariff areas of Bavaria, the coast and the center (Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland) will also meet in addition to the south-west for the third round. Employers are expected to put an initial offer on the table.
Employers in the south-west do not want to orientate themselves towards the end of the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. Südwestmetall’s managing director, Peer-Michael Dick, said the chemical and pharmaceutical industries have achieved significantly higher returns than the metal and electrical industries in recent years. “A degree comparable to that in chemistry, even with deductions, is therefore not affordable for our industry.”
In addition, the chemical and pharmaceutical industry is not so badly affected by the transformation. “Switching from combustion engines to new types of drives costs a lot of money in our industry. That has to be financed first.” IG BCE and chemical and pharmaceutical employers had agreed without strikes on a package of tax-exempt one-off payments and two percentage increases. According to a calculation by the union, there is an average increase of almost 13 percent over a period of 20 months.
