Press Release No. 28/2010 Berthold Huber: “The steel sector’s outcome is fair and just”

Frankfurt am Main – IG Metall President Berthold Huber has given a positive assessment of the collective bargaining agreement reached in the steel industry in northwestern Germany. “This outcome is fair and equitable. The wage increase allows employees to share in the industry’s upswing,” Huber said Thursday in Frankfurt. The agreement for the steel industry demonstrates that only the unions can achieve sustainable worker participation in the industry’s upswing. The union president views the collective bargaining provision on equal pay for temporary workers employed in the steel industry as an important milestone in the debate over equal pay for temporary workers. “The agreement for temporary agency workers is an important step toward the widespread adoption of the equal pay principle,” emphasized the IG Metall chairman.

He noted that this outcome was made possible above all because thousands of steelworkers had lent weight to their demands through warning strikes. “Once again, it has become clear: Only those who organize in unions can effectively assert their interests in the workplace,” Huber emphasized.