Better with a Collective Bargaining Agreement From 0 to 100 percent IG Metall in two and a half years

Since August, 100 percent of the employees at the contract logistics provider Duvenbeck in Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, have been members of IG Metall. The approximately 250 employees assemble axles and deliver them just-in-sequence to the Mercedes plant in Rastatt.

Until early 2024, no one here was a union member. Many workers earned only 2,200 euros gross per month for a 37.5-hour workweek. And on days the plant was closed—which management unilaterally determined—workers had to take vacation time or work negative hours.

But they organized through IG Metall Gaggenau, elected a works council within a few weeks by the end of February 2024, and then secured their first collective bargaining agreement by September. It was clear to management: If the employees went on strike and the axles stopped coming in, the assembly line at Mercedes would grind to a halt within 15 minutes.
 

Up to 6,500 euros more per year—only for IG Metall members

The new collective bargaining agreement immediately brought significantly more money. In 2025, employees received up to 6,500 euros more than in the previous year. This year, Duvenbeck employees also received the 3.1 percent pay increase from the latest metal industry collective bargaining agreement. And their wages continue to rise. By 2029, they will gradually reach the wage level of the metal and electrical industry.

In addition, there are two more days of vacation, as well as vacation pay and a Christmas bonus.

What’s unique about the collective bargaining agreement at Duvenbeck: Typically, employers extend the benefits and wages stipulated in the agreement to employees who are not union members and are therefore not actually entitled to them under the agreement. Employers do this in part to discourage people from joining the union. But at Duvenbeck, only members of IG Metall receive the benefits stipulated in the agreement—upon presentation of a membership confirmation fromIG Metall Gaggenau.

But the fact that 100 percent of the workforce is now organized in IG Metall isn’t primarily due to the benefits for members, says works council chair Mario Kos. “We really stick together. We’ve seen what it means when we organize—how strong we become. When I go into negotiations, I know that every single person is behind me. And the company knows that, too.”
 

Solidarity Works

Mario Kos started working at Duvenbeck in 2017 as a sequencer. “Back then, I could only say ‘Guten Tag’ and ‘Tschüss’ in German,” he recalls. He was promoted to foreman and advocated for better working conditions for his colleagues—but he soon realized he could achieve very little on his own.

In late 2023, IG Metall Gaggenau contacted Mario Kos as part of a phone campaign, and they had their first meeting. “The next evening, Mario called me. By then, he had already signed up 65 new members for IG Metall,” recalls Martin Obst, union secretary at IG Metall Gaggenau. “The colleagues at Duvenbeck have shown that solidarity works. From the first works council election through the collective bargaining agreement to the full unionization of the workforce, they took control of their working conditions themselves and improved them step by step. This sends a strong signal to other workforces far beyond Rastatt.”

Collective bargaining action at Duvenbeck in Rastatt in April 2023.
 

100 Percent Unionization Rate Ensures the Ability to Assert Rights

In Martin Obst’s view, the 100 percent unionization rate is the best guarantee that employees will be able to successfully assert their interests in the future as well. Especially since changes may lie ahead for them: According to an inquiry by the industry publication trans.iNFO, Duvenbeck’s owner, the private equity firm Waterland, is currently examining “suitable options” for a “necessary transformation” due to the situation in the automotive industry.

“I’m proud that 100 percent of employees are members of IG Metall today. Together, we’ve shown what’s possible when a workforce stands united,” says Mario Kos. “Our high unionization rate will continue to ensure that employees can assert their interests in the future and will guarantee that we not only achieve good working conditions but can also defend and further develop them over the long term.”