Metal and electrical industry: Warning strikes by IG Metall have started

On Sunday night, IG Metall began its warning strikes in the German metal and electrical industry. Immediately after the peace obligation expired at midnight, the night shift at the tinplate manufacturer Thyssenkrupp Rasselstein in Andernach (Rhineland-Palatinate), among others, temporarily stopped work. The approximately 300 employees gathered for a protest in front of the factory gate. An action also began at night at the mobile phone supplier RF 360 Europe/Qualcomm in Munich.

The protests are to be expanded to cover the entire country in the coming week. IG Metall wants to increase the pressure in collective bargaining for around 3.7 million employees. Important industries such as car manufacturing, mechanical engineering, electronics and metal production are affected by the temporary strikes.

The union has demanded five percent more money over a period of twelve months as well as securing jobs and locations. In the second round of negotiations, the employers submitted an offer that provided for a one-off payment next year and a step increase of 1.3 percent in July 2028. The reason for the offer below inflation was the difficult economic situation and the high cost burden for industry in Germany.

The union leader Christiane Benner then announced "strong warning strikes" because the "so-called offer" had only caused "incomprehension and anger" in the companies. It's about securing purchasing power and a future for everyone at the location.

»Employers see employees as pure cost factors. The “minus offer” has increased the anger among the workforce. The midnight warning strike at Thyssenkrupp Rasselstein is just the start of a massive warning strike phase," explained the chairman of the IG Metall Mitte district, Jörg Köhlinger, to strikers in Andernach.

How long should the warning strikes last?

The extent and duration of the warning strikes cannot be precisely predicted. After the first midnight actions and smaller walkouts on Sunday, larger demonstrations are planned for the coming week. According to Gesamtmetall, almost 290,000 people in almost 1,600 companies took part in the warning strikes in the comparatively low-conflict collective bargaining round in 2024, which took place on eleven different days. The union reported that more than 600,000 people were involved.

The IG Metall districts are responsible for organizing the warning strikes and are in competition with each other, where a negotiated compromise with the employers may first emerge. In the logic of the metal and electrical tariff, a deal is negotiated in a “pilot district” which is subsequently adopted by the others.