PRESS RELEASE IG Metall declares the failure of temporary staffing negotiations for the metal and electrical industries

Frankfurt am Main – After more than half a year of discussions and negotiations, the IG Metall executive board has declared collective bargaining negotiations for temporary workers in the metal and electrical industries a failure. The union is demanding an inflation adjustment bonus of 3,000 euros for the 180,000 temporary workers employed in the metal and electrical industries—the same bonus received by permanent employees at the same client companies. Employers are refusing this demand. The collective bargaining agreement will now expire at the end of the month.

Juan-Carlos Rio Antas, chief negotiator for IG Metall, says: “Employers are denying temporary workers a significant portion of the compensation and the collective bargaining agreement for the metal and electrical industries. This is widening the gap with permanent employees even further. We will not go along with this division. Permanent and temporary workers deserve equal pay for equal work.”

“A Matter of Justice”: IG Metall Steps Up the Pressure

IG Metall had already secured the payment of inflation adjustment bonuses for regular employees in the industry back in November 2022. The union is now demanding the same for temporary agency workers. Rio-Antas: “Temporary agency workers often fall into the lower pay brackets and, given rising prices, need the inflation bonus just as urgently. This is a matter of fairness.”

Nationwide, several thousand workers have already joined protests in recent weeks to demand an inflation adjustment bonus for temporary workers as well. Many permanent employees in the metal and electrical industries also participated in solidarity. IG Metall has planned further protests for this week.

Collective Bargaining Agreement Expires

IG Metall has terminated the collective bargaining agreement governing industry-specific bonuses in the metal and electrical industries; it will therefore expire on June 30. Chief negotiator Rio Antas: “This dispute is about greater fairness. It’s about the system of temporary worker compensation. The staffing agencies and client companies are jeopardizing the compensation system for temporary workers if, in these collective bargaining negotiations, they prevent temporary workers from receiving the same inflation adjustment bonus as permanent employees.”