Workers From Over 100 German Companies Go On Strike
IG Metall workers on strike, Oct. 28, 2024. X/ @SpacyConspiracy
October 29, 2024 Hour: 1:01 pm
IG Metall demands a 7 percent pay and a monthly bonus of 170 euros for apprentices under training contracts.
Under the call from the German union IG Metall, over a hundred companies in the metalworking, machinery, and automotive sectors went on strike. About 71,000 workers are participating in the strike action and staging rallies in front of 370 companies across the country.
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The warning strikes, intended to put pressure on negotiations for wage increases, began just past midnight at the VW automotive group plant in Osnabrück.
“Employees are now responding to the constant price pressure at the supermarket checkout with pressure on employers. We are calling for a quick and substantive solution,” stated Nadine Boguslawski, the head of collective bargaining agreements.
Joining the VW workforce in Osnabrück were also workers from Clarios and ZF in Hanover, Bosch and KSM Castings in Hildesheim, Siemens Healthineers in Jena, Airbus in Hamburg, BMW in Regensburg, Porsche in Stuttgart, and many other companies.
On Tuesday, the third round of negotiations between IG Metall and regional employers’ associations in various German states is set to gradually resume. The union is demanding a 7 percent pay raise over 12 months and a monthly bonus of 170 euros for apprentices under training contracts.
In contrast, the employers, citing struggling production and a lack of orders, are offering a 1.7 percent increase starting in July 2025 and a 1.9 percent increase starting in July 2026, over a period of 27 months.
The head of the employer association Gesamtmetall, Stefan Wolf, criticized the union’s demands as outdated, claiming that the metalworking and electrical industries are currently in “freefall.” The strikes come a day after news broke that VW plans to close three of its plants in Germany as part of its savings plan and cut employee wages by up to 10 percent.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
