Frankfurt am Main – IG Metall also sees the current collective bargaining round in the metal and electrical industry as providing impetus for the issues of equality and the compatibility of family and work. At the union’s works council day in Hanover, the first chairwoman of IG Metall, Christiane Benner, explained: “Collective agreements create transparency and security for employees and ensure fair pay. With a tariff, women earn significantly better! In the metal and electrical industry even 1,400 euros more per month.”
Collective bargaining solutions are also important for the compatibility of family and work. This should therefore also be addressed in the current collective bargaining round in the metal and electrical industry. The focus is on the demand for 7% more money and 170 euros more for trainees. Christiane Benner emphasized: “The opportunity for particularly stressed employees to exchange money for additional days off is a concrete answer to the concerns and needs of employees to better manage the balance between family, volunteer work and work. We therefore urgently need to talk about how the right to this free time can be extended to more people.”
At IG Metall’s Works Councilors’ Day, around 300 works councilors from all over Germany exchange ideas with each other and with experts on current equality policy issues. “Against the background of the current economic challenges, it is IG Metall’s task to ensure that equality between men and women remains on the agenda. In companies and in politics.”
There will be a number of events coming up in the near future that will raise awareness of the state of equality in Germany. Equal Pay Day on October 25th marks the date on which men could stop working and still earn the same as women. The Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 25th makes it clear that there are still far too many women suffer from discrimination as well as experiences of psychological and physical violence. The commitment to greater equal pay and against discrimination is at the top of the agenda for the works council members of IG Metall.