Frankfurt am Main – In the wage conflict in the metal and electrical industry, an average of more than 24,000 employees took part in warning strikes every day in the fourth week after the end of the peace obligation. This means that around 123,000 employees have temporarily stopped work this week until noon today. Since the end of the peace obligation on March 1, midnight, more than 800,000 employees have been on strike at times in order to emphasize their demands and to protest against the insufficient offer from the employers.
IG Metall believes that the warning strikes are necessary because negotiations stalled from the start. The sixth negotiation in the IG Metall district of North Rhine-Westphalia ended on Friday night after around 12 hours without a result despite a new offer from the employer. The negotiating partners have converged on some qualitative demands, but the IG Metall negotiating committee in particular rates the financial offer as completely inadequate.
The status of the negotiations will be assessed on Friday in the North Rhine-Westphalia collective bargaining commission and on the IG Metall board. The board then decides whether another attempt at a solution in North Rhine-Westphalia will be undertaken before Easter.
IG Metall wants to achieve three goals for the more than 3.8 million employees in the metal and electrical industry in this collective bargaining movement: secure employment, shape the future, stabilize income. Specifically, IG Metall calls for a volume of four percent, which, depending on the situation of the companies, can be used to strengthen wages and training allowances or to finance measures to safeguard jobs. With future collective agreements, tailor-made operational solutions are to be found that contain commitments for investments, locations, employment and qualifications.
By last Friday noon, more than 600,000 workers had taken part in warning strikes. That number had increased further over the weekend. Even today, Friday, large parts of the workforce from late and night shifts are still joining. Further warning strikes are planned for the coming week.