Metal and electrical industries
Metal collective bargaining parties are struggling to conclude the pilot on Monday
On Monday, the leaders of the Bavarian and coastal collective bargaining districts will meet for what could be a decisive fourth round of negotiations. When it comes to the main issue, the gap is still wide.
The collective bargaining parties in the metal and electrical industries want to end the negotiations on Monday – but agreeing on an income increase is still a high hurdle. Bavarian IG Metall boss and negotiator Horst Ott said there were a few issues where a solution was gradually coming into view. “But when it comes to the core issue of money, we are miles apart.” We’re not at the finish line yet. “Everyone sitting at the table is aware of their responsibility.”
Bavarian employers also emphasized this. Their negotiator Angelique Renkhoff-Mücke spoke on Monday of great willingness to reach an agreement, but qualified that the agreement had to be “responsible” and provide stability.
The collective bargaining parties in the Bavarian and coastal collective bargaining districts want to try on Monday to reach a pilot agreement for 3.9 million employees in the metal and electrical industries nationwide. Renkhoff-Mücke also emphasized that it would not be easy. Both sides “perhaps still have to jump over a stick,” she said. “Maybe it will be a big stick too.” Nevertheless, she estimated the chance of reaching an agreement in the upcoming fourth round of talks to be “over 50 percent”. What is needed now is “a kind of crisis conclusion” in order to stabilize Germany as a location.
High pressure of expectations among employees
The district manager and negotiator of IG Metall Coast, Daniel Friedrich, said that the expectations of the union members were high. IG Metall put forward its 7 percent demand in May, when the economic prospects seemed even better. IG Metall is prepared if the talks fail: each district has submitted plans for 24-hour strikes to the union headquarters in Frankfurt. However, negotiator Renkhoff-Mücke currently sees employers as less subject to blackmail than in previous collective bargaining rounds, when many companies were under full production capacity.
According to IG Metall, more than half a million employees took part in protests in the second week of the warning strike. “This movement in front of the factory gates must finally be followed by movement at the negotiating table,” demanded the first chairwoman of the union, Christiane Benner. “Our colleagues are determined and rightly impatient.”
The union is demanding seven percent more wages for a period of one year. For a term of 27 months, employers gradually offer a total of 3.6 percent more after nine zero months. In previous collective agreements, gradual increases and contract durations often played an important role.
Flexible regulations in exchange for commitments
Employers point to ever new bad news from companies and ongoing job cuts. Many companies no longer see any other way out, said Renkhoff-Mücke. Ott, on the other hand, emphasized: “When companies get into difficulties, we have always found a solution. But it’s about an area collective agreement.”
The exploratory discussions are, for example, about exceptions for companies that generate less than 2.3 percent return on sales. Employers want to expand such exceptions.
First pilot test with two tariff districts
For the first time, two collective bargaining districts are trying together to reach a pilot agreement. In recent years there have been pilots in Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia, and in Bavaria in 2013.
In Hamburg, IG Metall is planning a large rally with First Chairwoman Benner on Monday. Negotiations are scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. Friedrich expects that it will definitely last “until after midnight”.
“Full throttle again” during warning strikes
IG Metall wants to continue calling for warning strikes until a pilot conclusion is reached. “We are going full throttle again to show employers that we are serious,” said Ott.
The late shift at BMW’s largest European plant in Dingolfing was scheduled to end two and a half hours earlier on Friday. In the Allgäu, all shifts at AGCO Fendt, Robert Bosch and Liebherr Aerospace should end their shifts two or three hours earlier. In total, IG Metall Bayern is calling on employees in 36 companies to go on warning strikes.
dpa
Source: Stern
