Collective bargaining dispute: IG Metall has more than 400,000 participants in warning strikes

Munich. According to IG Metall, more than 400,000 employees took part in the first wave of warning strikes in the collective bargaining dispute in the metal and electrical industry this week. The union threatened on Friday to intensify the industrial action if the employers did not present an improved offer during the negotiating rounds in the collective bargaining districts of Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia on Monday.

“If employers want an escalation, we are prepared,” said Daniel Friedrich, IG Metall negotiator in the Coast district. “We will discuss the next steps with our collective bargaining committee.”

In the northern collective bargaining district, which extends from Bremen to the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Baltic Sea coast, employers and unions parted ways in the third round of negotiations on Friday without a result. Employers are currently offering a one-off payment in July 2027, which would be between 500 and 850 euros depending on the earnings situation, but can also be canceled for companies in crisis. From July 2028 they want to increase collective wages by 1.3 percent.

From November onwards, the union is demanding five percent more money for a period of twelve months as well as regulations to secure employment for the 3.7 million employees in the industry nationwide. High-earning companies should also pay a profit share. In Baden-Württemberg, IG Metall proposed solutions to employers on Thursday to secure investments and locations. The union expressed its willingness to accept temporary regulations under which contributions from the workforce could be agreed upon in return for binding employment commitments from the company.

More than 413,000 employees took part in more than 2,800 actions - from short work stoppages to rallies. That was significantly more than in the 2024 collective bargaining round. “They have shown that they think nothing, absolutely nothing, of the employers’ negative offer,” said IG Metall boss Christiane Benner.

"We cannot undertake blanket savings programs to secure returns or sacrifice wages. Only innovations and investments will bring Germany forward as an industrial location." There were strikes and demonstrations at, among others, the car manufacturers Mercedes, Audi and BMW, the truck manufacturers Daimler Truck and MAN, the wind turbine manufacturer Siemens Gamesa and the aircraft manufacturer Airbus. Further warning strikes have been announced for Monday.

The Bavarian metal employers criticized the strikes: “We reject that,” said the general manager of the Association of the Bavarian Metal and Electrical Industry (vbm), Bertram Brossardt. “We expect less class struggle rhetoric, fewer strikes and more willingness to find solutions from IG Metall.”