At the end of 2026, Avnet Logistics in Poing, Bavaria, will close and relocate to Saxony-Anhalt—but the workers fought hard and secured a social collective bargaining agreement with IG Metall: After a three-day strike, the 350 employees of the semiconductor logistics company will now receive severance packages of up to 240,000 euros, plus additional bonuses for children, severe disabilities, and former temporary workers. IG Metall members will also receive a membership bonus of 25,000 euros.
With the help of IG Metall, the employees have thus secured roughly five times the budget originally estimated by the employer.
“With this strong negotiation outcome, we have succeeded in securing the financial future of all Avnet employees for two to three years, despite the plant’s closure,” explains Sibylle Wankel, Chief Representative of IG Metall Munich. “The employees themselves made this possible through their solidarity and their determination to carry out a strike to force a settlement.”
Closure Despite Profits – Neue Logistik in Saxony-Anhalt
Management had announced the closure in April. However, signs that the logistics center in Poing near Munich would not continue had already emerged last June, when the employer allowed the company’s employment protection program to expire. Background: In Bernburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Avnet has built a significantly larger logistics center that offers better conditions, particularly due to its proximity to the Leipzig/Halle cargo airport.
The employees at the Poing logistics center—which had previously been without a collective bargaining agreement—turned to IG Metall Munich. Avnet generates billions in revenue and achieves solid double-digit margins. The daily value of goods handled in Poing is, in some cases, higher than the site’s annual labor costs. Yet wages in Poing are significantly below the collective bargaining rate, based on a 40-hour workweek.
The employees organized within IG Metall, elected a bargaining committee, and called on the employer to engage in collective bargaining. Five rounds of collective bargaining yielded no results. With a warning strike and a full-day warning strike, the workforce increased the pressure on the employer. In mid-April, Avnet announced that it would close the logistics center in Poing by the end of 2026. In a strike vote, 96.1 percent of IG Metall members at the plant voted in favor of an indefinite strike. After three days of striking, a breakthrough was achieved.
Strike at Avnet in Poing, Bavaria
Courage and Solidarity Pay Off
“The Avnet employees didn’t bury their heads in the sand; instead, they took their fate into their own hands,” emphasizes Philipp Schlemmer, strike leader for IG Metall Munich. “That courage is now paying off. It was only through the strike that we collectively persuaded the employer to agree to a very good collective bargaining settlement. I tip my hat to this fantastic workforce.”
In addition to severance pay, there’s also a wage increase: a 2.5 percent raise starting in July. If certain productivity targets are met, employees will receive up to three additional months’ salary. Starting June 1, the weekly workweek will be reduced from 40 hours to 37.5 hours with full wage compensation.
“With this tremendous success, Avnet’s employees have shown what can be achieved when people organize and stand together,” says Horst Ott, district director of IG Metall Bavaria. “The closure of the logistics center in Poing will now be very costly for Avnet. The substantial membership bonus is a recognition of all IG Metall members whose solidarity and courage got our movement at Avnet rolling in the first place.”
The initial reactions from the employees have been positive. When the results were announced on Tuesday afternoon, there was even spontaneous applause for the membership bonus achieved. “We never would have expected such a result,” says Mostafa Bahij, a member of the works council at Avnet. “This really provides security for the coming years.”
Now, the IG Metall members at Avnet in Poing will vote on ending the strike in a second ballot.
Reports on the collective bargaining dispute at Avnet from IG Metall Bavaria.
