IG Metall is demanding five percent more wages for the metal and electrical industries

In the upcoming collective bargaining round for 3.7 million employees in the metal and electrical industry, IG Metall is insisting on significant improvements: The board of the industrial union has decided to demand five percent more money and a collective profit share for “boom companies,” as IG Metall announced. There should also be “tariff security for the future and employment”.

The decision by the union's board came today after corresponding decisions in the seven collective bargaining districts yesterday. “We are approaching the negotiations with combative realism,” explained IG Metall boss Christiane Benner. "Giving up doesn't make any progress. Instead of crisis rhetoric, attacks on social standards and doom and gloom, employees expect secure jobs, compensation for increased prices and a fair share of the companies' profits," she explained.

The union's package of demands is "responsible, fair and tailored," explained IG Metall collective bargaining officer Nadine Boguslawski. “We offer and demand answers from employers for a variety of economic situations: from crisis to boom.”

IG Metall highlighted that, according to union surveys, the order backlog in two thirds of the companies was “good or very good”. There will then be a boom in orders, particularly among manufacturers of ships and rail vehicles as well as in medical technology, aerospace and the defense sector.

Collective bargaining for the largest German industrial sector with around 3.7 million employees is being overshadowed by crises in other parts of the industry. The auto industry is cutting jobs massively and there is a threat of factory closures - around 175,000 employees protested against this at a nationwide day of action organized by IG Metall. Mechanical engineering is also affected.

The employers' associations rejected the demand. They are pushing for lower labor costs to overcome the crisis in large parts of the industry and to end job cuts. “We must succeed in ensuring that our companies can produce competitively here again and thus maintain as many jobs as possible in the country,” argued Südwestmetall chairman Peter Sebastian Krause.

The negotiations begin in the districts of North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg on October 7th, the other tariff areas will follow in the following days. There could be a second round of negotiations by the end of October. The peace obligation ends when the current collective agreement expires on October 31st - after that warning strikes are possible.