BEERG Newsletter 31 - Germany: IG Metall to demand 8.5% pay increase

IG Metall, the German manufacturing union, is to demand an 8.5% one-year pay increase when negotiations in the steel industry open in November. It also wants a reduction in working hours for 35 to 32 without loss of pay. According to Knut Giesler, chief negotiator and district leader of IG Metall North Rhine-Westphalia, the union in going into the talks with the "biggest package of demands in decades".

The demands are the result of discussions among IG Metall members as well as a survey of more than 11,000 workers. According to the survey, 72% of workers said that a pay rise was particularly important in the light of continuing high inflation. 75% of respondents said that the issue of reduced working hours with full pay compensation was "rather important" or "important". 69% of respondents saw it as an important for securing jobs and employment. The green transformation of the steel industry and introduction of new technologies are expected to put pressure on employment in a few years’ time. Reducing working time, the union believes, would spread the existing work and secure employment.

Metall hopes that its pioneering demands that can serve as a blueprint for other sectors. 

Download BEERG Newsletter Issue #31 2023 as a PDF