Frankfurt am Main – More than 17,160 workers nationwide took part in warning strikes today as part of the collective bargaining dispute in the metal and electrical industries (as of 2:00 p.m.). On Tuesday and Wednesday, a total of 87,500 workers briefly walked off the job each day until the afternoon. In the evening and overnight hours on both days, tens of thousands more colleagues heeded IG Metall’s call to strike. Since the end of the peace obligation at midnight on Monday, March 1, a total of approximately 163,760 metalworkers have thus participated in warning strikes. They have carried out more than 350 workplace actions.
On the third day of the warning strikes, the focus was on the Bavaria district. There, 5,880 workers from 30 plants briefly walked off the job. In Schweinfurt alone, 2,600 metalworkers at ZF (South Plant), SKF (Plant 3), Bosch Rexroth, Ewellix, Horton Europe, and SRAM took part in the warning strike. 1,000 of them took part in a rally. Under the slogan “200 for 20,000,” delegations from eleven companies, totaling 200 participants, gathered at Maxplatz in Bamberg for a colorful rally—representing the 20,000 metal and electrical workers in the region.
Approximately 4,210 workers went on a warning strike inthe IG Metall district of North Rhine-Westphalia. 670 of them gathered in Gelsenkirchen, Lippstadt, and Hemer for warning strike rallies at drive-in theaters.
About 2,160 workers in the Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt district went on a brief walkout. Fifteen companies were affected.
In the IG Metall Central District ( Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Thuringia, Saarland), 2,090 metalworkers from more than 20 companies heeded the union’s call for a warning strike, including employees of Continental in Karben, Rheinböllen, and Frankfurt. Employees of Carl Zeiss in Jena participated in a work-from-home warning strike.
In the Baden-Württemberg district, 1,750 workers from 25 companies walked off the job. At Bürkle in Freudenstadt, 150 employees, together with workers from other companies, formed a human chain around the factory grounds; in Gutach, 200 metalworkers from Schondelmaier and ABB Stotz gathered in front of the factory gate for a rally.
In the Berlin-Brandenburg-Saxony district, approximately 1,000 workers from 9 plants took part in warning strikes, and in the Coastal district, 70 workers did the same.
In the afternoon and evening, additional plants and shifts will begin their warning strikes. Through these warning strikes and rallies, the workers aim to emphasize their collective bargaining demands and protest the employers’ inadequate offer.
IG Metall is calling for a “future package” for the more than 3.8 million workers in the metal and electrical industries during this round of collective bargaining. This includes job security, forward-looking collective bargaining agreements for companies, and wage stabilization. Specifically, IG Metall is calling for a 4 percent increase, which, depending on the situation at each company, can be used to boost wages and apprenticeship stipends or to finance job security measures. Future collective bargaining agreements are intended to identify tailored solutions for individual companies that include commitments to investment, locations, employment, and training.
Further information on the collective bargaining round
