German metal sector set for pay battle

This month will see the start of serious negotiations on a pay deal for the 3.6 million employees in the metalworking industry, the largest negotiating group in the German private sector. IG Metall, the union involved, is claiming a 6.5% increase.

The employers entered the first round of negotiations last month without making an offer, arguing that they still needed to assess the impact of another part of the IG Metall claim - a common pay scale for manual and non-manual workers.

However, the president of the metalworking employers' association, Martin Kannegiesser, has suggested that increases of between 1% and 2.5% would be possible.

The employers have threatened that if the union pushes too hard then it could mean the end of industry-wide bargaining, as many employers could leave the employers' association.

But Klaus Zwickel, president of IG Metall, who has said a substantial increase is both necessary and affordable (see Labour Research January 2002 page 8), wants the employers to have made an acceptable offer by the end of this month. If not he says "we'll get moving pretty quickly and bring pressure to bear with warning strikes".

The stage is set for a hard-fought pay round and the metalworking agreement is normally a key indicator for all other settlements. However, it is possible that, as in 2000, the traditionally less militant chemical workers' union IGBCE may reach a trend-setting agreement before IG Metall. It is only asking for 5.5%.