Frankfurt am Main – At its meeting today, the IG Metall Executive Board approved its recommended demands for the upcoming collective bargaining round in the metal and electrical industries, which employ more than 3.8 million workers. The Executive Board recommends that IG Metall’s regional bargaining committees demand a “future package.” At its core, the aim is to establish a collective bargaining framework for optional models of reduced working hours—such as the 4-day workweek with partial wage compensation—and future collective bargaining agreements. This would set minimum standards under collective bargaining agreements for all companies that utilize such options.
To boost incomes and finance job security measures—such as partial wage compensation for reduced working hours—a wage increase of up to 4 percent over a 12-month period is to be demanded.
The IG Metall Executive Board is also demanding that employers take steps to address the persistent disadvantage faced by East German workers in terms of working hours and hourly wages.
Collective bargaining provisions to improve vocational training and dual study programs—in particular, the permanent hiring of trainees—are also to be included in the demands.
The IG Metall Executive Board justifies the amount and structure of the recommended demands based on the economic conditions and the discernible effects of the current crisis on employment. The distribution-neutral margin for a wage demand results from a trend productivity rate of approximately 1 percent and the ECB’s target inflation rate of up to 2 percent. It should also be noted that the wage scales were extended by an additional nine months in March 2020, meaning that inflation trends in 2020 were not taken into account.
Private consumption, which has been a key driver of economic growth in Germany in recent years, collapsed in 2020 and slowed growth. From IG Metall’s perspective, it is therefore imperative to stabilize incomes. Added to this is the need to finance measures to secure employment and training.
The last pay increase affecting the collective bargaining agreement in the metal and electrical industry took place in April 2018.
“Economic forecasts indicate that the path out of the crisis will extend beyond 2021. The 2021 collective bargaining round is therefore primarily focused on crisis management. Given the existing COVID-19-related burdens such as short-time work and job cuts, it is a matter of fairness not to place the consequences of the crisis any further on the shoulders of workers,” said Jörg Hofmann, President of IG Metall, explaining the rationale behind the recommended demands in Frankfurt. “The four-day workweek can be one solution for securing employment in the long term. After all, the digital and ecological transformation will take years, regardless of the economic situation of individual companies. This transition cannot be cushioned by short-time work alone.”
The vast majority of workers in the industry agree with the proposal for a four-day workweek. This is shown by an ongoing online survey conducted by IG Metall. The majority of respondents view a reduction in working hours as an effective means of securing employment. By far the largest share favors the four-day workweek.
The regional bargaining committees will discuss and decide on their demands on November 17. On November 26, the IG Metall Executive Board will review the decisions of the bargaining committees and finalize the demands.
Negotiations will begin in mid-December in the collective bargaining regions. The collective bargaining agreements on “Wages and Training Allowances” and “Future in Work” expire on December 31, while the collective bargaining agreement on “Job Security and Development” expires on January 31, 2021. The peace obligation thus ends on March 1, 2021, at midnight.
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Further information and press photos of Jörg Hofmann
