Frankfurt am Main – Following the end of the peace obligation, nearly 110,000 workers from nearly 400 companies across Germany had already participated in warning strikes and protests by early afternoon (2 p.m.). As early as midnight, around 25,000 warning strikers from about 90 companies had already emphasized their demand for a 5 percent pay increase and protested against the employers’ meager offer. “As long as employers think they can fob off the employees’ performance and dedication with this provocative offer, we will respond with warning strikes,” said Jörg Hofmann, President of IG Metall, at midnight on Friday at a rally in front of 3,000 employees at the Ford plant in Saarlouis. Hofmann also announced massive nationwide warning strikes for the coming days.
The focus of the warning strikes on Friday was in Baden-Württemberg, where more than 37,000 workers from 156 companies took part in warning strike actions. Short-term work stoppages took place at the Ulm-based companies EvoBus (5,800 warning strikers), Brehm, Handtmann Metallguss, and Liebherr. At the automotive supplier Mahle, around 2,000 workers took part in a company-wide day of action.
In North Rhine-Westphalia , around 17,000 workers from 61 plants heeded IG Metall’s call. Overnight, more than 4,100 metalworkers from 20 plants had already participated in the midnight actions. Christiane Benner, Second Chair of IG Metall, spoke at two rallies before a total of 7,500 employees at the Ford plants in Cologne. Additional warning strikes took place involving 1,600 employees from 30 companies in Wuppertal.
In the IG Metall Mitte district , over 16,000 workers from 48 plants in Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Thuringia took part in warning strikes. Overnight, 7,000 metalworkers had already briefly walked off the job. Other key locations included ThyssenKrupp in Andernach, Ford and other plants in Saarlouis, Daimler in Kassel, and the Opel sites in Kaiserslautern and Eisenach.
In the IG Metall “Küste” district, approximately 14,200 workers from more than 50 plants took part in warning strike actions. As early as the previous night, 1,200 workers at Daimler and Lear in Bremen had gone on a warning strike. The largest rally in northern Germany, with 2,000 participants, took place in front of the Airbus plant in Finkenwerder. In Papenburg, 2,000 workers at the Meyer shipyard heeded IG Metall’s call for a warning strike. In Schleswig-Holstein, 3,500 metalworkers from 30 companies took part in the actions.
In Bavaria , around 12,000 workers from over 30 plants briefly walked off the job. As early as the night before, 7,200 metalworkers had already brought production lines at eleven plants to a brief standstill. The largest rally, with 5,000 participants, took place at Audi in Ingolstadt. Jürgen Kerner, chief treasurer of IG Metall, spoke at midnight to 450 workers participating in a warning strike at Airbus Helicopters in Donauwörth. During the day, actions included a rally with 1,000 workers at the Siemens equipment plant in Amberg and one with 750 metalworkers at MTU Aero Engines in Munich.
In the IG Metall Berlin-Brandenburg-Saxony district , over 6,000 metalworkers from eleven plants heeded IG Metall’s call. The action kicked off at midnight with 500 metalworkers at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Berlin-Marienfelde and more than 200 employees of the automotive suppliers GKN Driveline and Radsystem Mosel in Saxony. At Volkswagen Saxony in Chemnitz and Zwickau, along with the automotive supplier SAS Autosystemtechnik, approximately 3,600 workers took part in a rally featuring Wolfgang Lemb, executive board member of IG Metall, and other warning strike actions.
In Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, nearly 4,800 workers from 29 companies demonstrated in support of their demands. In Salzgitter, a total of about 2,400 workers from Alstom, MAN, Voith, and Meyer temporarily stopped work.
