Frankfurt am Main – Ahead of today’s collective bargaining negotiations in the IG Metall districts of Baden-Württemberg and Mitte, approximately 20,000 workers from 90 companies had participated in warning strikes by noon (2:00 p.m.) and demanded an improved offer, IG Metall announced Wednesday in Frankfurt. This continued the work stoppages, rallies, and early-closing actions that had taken place in the preceding days. Since the start of the warning strikes, approximately 530,000 metalworkers from over 2,400 companies have demonstrated in support of their demands for a 5.5 percent pay increase as well as provisions for age-based and education-related part-time work.
Today’s warning strikes were concentrated in Baden-Württemberg, where approximately 11,400 workers from 40 companies took part in the actions. Ahead of the third round of negotiations, 2,000 young workers—including those from the Daimler plant in Sindelfingen—demonstrated outside the negotiation venue to voice their demands. In Zuffenhausen, 3,000 employees from Porsche, Alcatel-Lucent, and other companies gathered for a rally. In Dettingen, 1,200 employees from ElringKlinger and other companies briefly stopped work.
In Bavaria, over 3,540 workers from 14 companies participated in brief work stoppages. In Donauwörth, 800 workers at Airbus Helicopters, 300 employees at Fendt Caravan in Mertingen, and just under 500 workers at Agco GmbH in Asbach-Bäumenheim walked off the job. 700 employees walked off the job in Neustadt at Mahle Behr GmbH and in Regensburg at Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen. In Ruhstorf, Lower Bavaria, 450 employees from Siemens AG and Motorenfabrik Hatz participated in work stoppages.
In the IG Metall Central District, approximately 3,400 employees from 24 companies heeded IG Metall’s call. In Hesse, employees at Vacuumschmelze and other companies in Hanau demonstrated in support of their demands. In Rhineland-Palatinate, warning strikes took place in Gustavsburg, Kaiserslautern, Kirchheimbolanden, and Bad Kreuznach, among other locations. In Saarland, the warning strikes were concentrated in Sulzbach/Saar, as well as in Neunkirchen and Saarbrücken. In Rudolstadt, Thuringia, employees of Siemens Röntgen AG walked off the job.
In the IG Metall Berlin-Brandenburg-Saxony district, over 1,200 workers from nine plants took part in warning strikes. In Berlin, 750 workers at Robert Bosch Automotive Steering GmbH and other plants briefly walked off the job. Additional warning strikes took place in Berlin at various Otis locations as well as at MAN Diesel & Turbo SE. In Sebnitz, Saxony, 100 employees of Robert Bosch Elektrofahrzeuge GmbH heeded IG Metall’s call. Further warning strikes took place in Leipzig, Dresden, Limbach-Oberfrohna, and Zwickau.
