Steelworkers get 6.5%

Pay for workers in the German steel industry will increase by 6.5% from 1 August following a settlement between the employers and Germany’s largest union, IG Metall, signed on 15 June.

The settlement will run for 18 months from 1 June 2022 until 30 November 2023, and for June and July 2022, before the pay increase takes effect, workers will receive a lump sum payment of €500.

Although, as the union points out, this is the highest pay settlement in the steel industry for more than 30 years, it is still below inflation, which was 7.9% in May, higher than at any time since early 1974.

The agreement, which initially covers 68,000 workers in north and west Germany but is likely to be extended to another 24,000 working in companies in the east of the country, follows brief warning strikes by workers in key steel plants at the start of June.

The steel deal is significantly better than the agreement for 10,000 workers in the textile industry in East Germany, which IG Metall signed on 5 May. It provides a 5.6% increase, paid in two instalments over 25 months, plus two lump sum payments worth a total of €120.