Press Release No. 28/2016 IG Metall: 760,000 workers on warning strike ahead of the decisive round of negotiations

Frankfurt am Main – IG Metall has continued its warning strikes unabated ahead of the decisive round of negotiations in the collective bargaining dispute in the metal and electrical industries. By early afternoon (2:30 p.m.), nearly 40,000 workers from approximately 220 companies had participated in brief work stoppages, rallies, and early-closing actions. Since the end of the peace obligation, approximately 760,000 warning strikers nationwide have taken part in the actions, lending weight to the demand for a 5 percent pay increase. Further warning strike actions are planned for the course of the afternoon and evening. “760,000 metalworkers on warning strikes since the end of the peace obligation have sent a strong message. They now expect a breakthrough in today’s negotiations. Because the bottom line is: hard work must pay off,” said Jörg Hofmann, President of IG Metall, on Thursday in Frankfurt.

The focus of the warning strikes was in the IG Metall Mitte district. There, around 14,300 warning strikers from 77 companies in Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Thuringia, and Saarland took part in rallies and actions. In Saarbrücken, 3,100 workers from two companies went on strike. In Kaiserslautern, Jürgen Kerner, chief treasurer of IG Metall, addressed 1,500 warning strikers.

In Bavaria , 11,000 workers from 34 companies took part in rallies and warning strike actions. In Bamberg, 3,300 warning strikers attended a rally. In the Aschaffenburg region, more than 2,700 metalworkers went on a brief strike.

In North Rhine-Westphalia , more than 8,000 warning strikers gathered for a rally at Cologne’s Heumarkt. At Miele in Gütersloh, 1,000 workers briefly walked off the job.

In the IG Metall Berlin-Brandenburg-Saxony district , nearly 2,000 workers from 17 plants took part in warning strikes. In Brandenburg, 400 metalworkers at ZF Friedrichshafen AG briefly walked off the job.

In Baden-Württemberg , approximately 1,000 workers from five plants heeded IG Metall’s call for a warning strike and temporarily stopped work. At Mahle in Stuttgart, 250 workers went on a brief strike.

For more information on the warning strike actions, please contact the respective IG Metall district offices or visit: http://www.igmetall.de/presse