Frankfurt am Main – IG Metall is calling for a “future package” for the more than 3.8 million workers in the metal and electrical industries. This package includes a 4 percent increase that can be used to boost wages and apprenticeship stipends, as well as to finance measures to secure employment. The agreement is to run for twelve months. The union’s executive board made this decision on Thursday in Frankfurt.
“IG Metall is seeking a collective bargaining framework that includes a wage increase sufficient to raise incomes and, in companies facing employment challenges, to offset income losses when working hours are reduced—for example, through a four-day workweek. Future collective bargaining agreements are intended to identify tailored company-specific solutions that include commitments to investment, locations, employment, and training,” explained Jörg Hofmann, First Chairman of IG Metall.
Other issues include improving the quality of vocational training and offering permanent employment to trainees and dual-track students.
In the collective bargaining regions of eastern Germany, there is a demand for a collective bargaining adjustment payment to end the disadvantage faced by eastern German workers in terms of working hours and hourly wages.
Due to the pandemic, private consumption has plummeted this year and has failed to act as an engine of growth. Safeguarding incomes is therefore essential; it helps stabilize domestic demand and mitigate the consequences of the crisis. The distribution-neutral leeway here stems from the ECB’s target inflation rate of up to two percent and the trend productivity rate of around one percent. It should also be noted that the wage scales were extended by another nine months in March 2020, meaning that inflation trends in 2020 have not yet been factored in.
“The proposals for the four-day workweek and for future collective bargaining agreements are responses to the digital and ecological transformation. With these, we want to give employees prospects for the future, because uncertainty has now spread deeply into the core workforce,” said Hofmann.
Negotiations will begin in mid-December in the collective bargaining regions. The collective bargaining agreements on “Wages and Apprenticeship Wages” and “Future in Work” expire on December 31, while the collective bargaining agreement on “Employment Security and Development” expires on January 31, 2021. The peace obligation thus ends at midnight on March 1, 2021.
The IG Metall Executive Board has also approved the demands for collective bargaining at Volkswagen AG. An in-house collective bargaining agreement applies to the approximately 120,000 employees at the six West German plants and at Financial Services.
IG Metall is demanding a four percent increase in wages and apprenticeship stipends starting in January 2021, effective for a period of twelve months. In the future, all IG Metall members should be able to convert the collective bargaining-based supplementary compensation into days off.
To safeguard training opportunities and career prospects for young people, IG Metall is demanding that 1,400 apprenticeship positions be guaranteed annually for the next ten years.
IG Metall is also calling for the initiation of talks to improve the situation of apprentices and students in the “Praxisverbund” program. This involves the company covering semester fees, incorporating practice-integrated study programs into the provisions of the apprenticeship collective bargaining agreement, and extending the provisions regarding collectively bargained time off to apprentices and students in the “Praxisverbund” program as well.
The no-strike clause at Volkswagen ends on January 28.
On behalf of the approximately 75,000 employees in the West German textile and apparel industry, the IG Metall executive board has decided to demand a 4 percent increase in wages, salaries, and apprenticeship stipends—with a minimum increase of 100 euros—for a period of 12 months.
In addition, IG Metall is calling for a renegotiation of the collective bargaining agreement on partial retirement with improved terms regarding supplementary payments and eligibility rates in the textile and apparel industry. Another issue to be addressed is measures to secure employment.
Further information and press photos of Jörg Hofmann
