Frankfurt am Main – In the collective bargaining dispute in the metal and electrical industries, IG Metall has increased pressure on employers with nationwide warning strikes: By noon (2:00 p.m.), over 60,000 workers from approximately 250 companies had participated in walkouts, rallies, and early-closing actions. Yesterday afternoon and evening as well, many thousands of workers had used warning strike actions to emphasize their demand for a 5.5 percent pay increase as well as provisions for age-related and educational part-time work. Since the end of the peace obligation, a total of over 300,000 workers from around 1,800 companies have participated in warning strikes in the metal and electrical industries.
In Bavaria, over 25,000 workers from 25 companies took part in brief work stoppages. In Ingolstadt, 13,500 metalworkers at Audi demonstrated in support of their demands. In Manching, 1,000 workers at Airbus briefly stopped work. In Munich, 1,500 workers at the BMW Research and Innovation Center and 1,500 employees at MTU took part in brief work stoppages. In Munich-Allach, 1,000 workers from Krauss Maffei, KMW, and Siemens demonstrated in support of their demands. Additional warning strikes took place in Passau, Landshut, Bad Neustadt, Würzburg, and throughout Upper and Middle Franconia and the Upper Palatinate, among other locations.
In Baden-Württemberg, approximately 15,000 workers from 50 plants took part in warning strike actions. At the Audi car plant in Neckarsulm, 7,400 metalworkers gathered at a rally in support of IG Metall’s demands. Additional warning strikes took place in Albstadt, Heidelberg, Freudenstadt, Mannheim, Offenburg, Schramberg-Sulgen, and Waldkirch, among other locations.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, approximately 13,900 workers from 116 companies walked off the job. In Dortmund, 1,600 workers from 14 companies gathered in front of Continentale Automotive GmbH for a rally. In Bielefeld, 1,400 employees from five companies demonstrated, and in Mönchengladbach, 2,000 metalworkers from 17 companies demonstrated in support of their demands. Additional warning strikes took place in Königswinter, Düren, Düsseldorf, Dülmen, Hamm, Bünde, Berleburg, Cologne, and Krefeld, among other locations.
In the IG Metall Central District, approximately 2,300 workers from 18 plants heeded IG Metall’s call. In Hesse, about 1,100 workers from Darmstadt, Hanau, Fulda, Herborn, Dillenburg, and Frankfurt took part in the warning strikes. In Offenbach, 300 metalworkers at GKN walked off the job. In Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate, 400 workers at Johnson Control went on a brief strike. Additional warning strikes took place in Trier, Haßloch, Wörth, and Bad Neuenahr, among other locations. In Saarland, 870 workers in St. Ingbert, Zweibrücken, and Homburg participated in warning strikes. In Thuringia, the only collective bargaining region not subject to the peace obligation, 4,900 workers have participated in warning strikes so far.
In the IG Metall Berlin-Brandenburg-Saxony district, more than 1,800 metalworkers from 20 companies took part in warning strikes. In Berlin, 1,000 workers from nine companies demonstrated in front of Daimler AG to voice their demands. Additional warning strikes took place in Ludwigsfelde at MTU Maintenance, with around 200 participants, and in Finsterwalde, where 300 workers from six companies walked off the job. In Saxony, 100 employees of Siemens AG in Chemnitz heeded IG Metall’s call.
In Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, over 1,500 workers from 16 companies heeded IG Metall’s call. The focus was on the Hamelin, Alfeld, and Hildesheim region, as well as in Hanover and Braunschweig.
In the IG Metall “Küste” district, approximately 800 workers from six plants went on strike. In Lübeck, 530 workers from three plants heeded IG Metall’s call. In northwestern Lower Saxony, 285 workers briefly went on strike.
