Comment: IG Metall's mega-strike only brings a loss of trust

For IG Metall, warning strikes are part of collective bargaining rounds like amen is part of church services. With actions on the streets, the union makes its demands visible to the outside world, involves its existing members at an early stage and tries to win new ones. Employers have long since adjusted to this collective bargaining ritual.

But now IG Metall is using a powerful instrument that has been available to it since 2017, but has only been used once since then: 24-hour warning strikes. But whether employees take to the streets for a bit during their lunch break or a company is shut down all day, the effect on a company makes a significant difference. And also the situation in which the strike has been going on for so long.

The first time, in 2018, in addition to wage percentages, it was about shorter working hours and a choice model between money and free time - demands that today sound like they come from a distant time. Just like economic growth, which was 2.9 percent in the year before the collective bargaining round.