Frankfurt am Main – Today, nearly 75,000 workers from over 350 companies across Germany took part in warning strikes as part of the collective bargaining dispute in the metal and electrical industries (as of 2:00 p.m.). Since the end of the peace obligation, a total of around 160,000 metalworkers have taken to the streets to emphasize their collective bargaining demands and protest the employers’ inadequate offer. Jörg Hofmann, President of IG Metall, reiterated at a rally in front of 2,000 warning strikers on Wednesday in Homburg/Saar: “With IG Metall, a collective bargaining agreement will only be reached if it includes all three components: a substantial wage increase; an option to temporarily reduce working hours; and subsidies that make reducing working hours accessible to everyone—whether for child-rearing, caregiving, or health reasons.”
The focus of Wednesday’s warning strikes was in North Rhine-Westphalia. There, more than 25,000 workers from 178 companies briefly walked off the job. In Wuppertal, 1,000 workers from several companies took part in a joint rally. In Hellenthal, 1,000 metalworkers from seven companies demonstrated. In Neuss, around 750 workers briefly stopped work and took part in a rally at Pierburg Plant.
Focus on Wednesday: North Rhine-Westphalia
More than 16,000 metalworkers from over 80 plants briefly went on strike in Baden-Württemberg . One major event was a protest in front of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG in Wiesloch, in which around 3,000 workers—including those from neighboring companies—took part. In Freiburg, 350 workers from 14 smaller companies demonstrated. Other large rallies took place at Bosch in Bühl, with 500 workers, and at Caterpillar in Mannheim, with 450 workers.
In Bavaria , more than 12,000 workers from 18 companies gathered outside their workplaces. The largest protest took place at MAN Truck & Bus in Munich, with 3,000 participants. At ZF in Passau, 2,800 workers briefly stopped work. A total of 1,700 workers took part in protests at Premium AEROTEC in Augsburg.
More than 12,000 workers went on a warning strike in the IG Metall Central District ( Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Thuringia, Saarland). A major focus was at the Ford Industrial Park in Saarlouis, with around 4,000 participants. In Homburg, IG Metall President Jörg Hofmann addressed 2,000 warning strike participants. In Offenbach, IG Metall Executive Board member Jürgen Kerner spoke at the warning strike organized by employees of the printing press manufacturer Manroland Sheetfeed.
In the IG Metall Berlin-Brandenburg-Saxony district, 1,850 workers from eight companies heeded the union’s call for a warning strike. In Berlin, 700 metalworkers from the Mercedes-Benz plant in Berlin and GE Energy Power Conversion took part in two-and-a-half-hour work stoppages. At the warning strike at ZF Getriebe in Brandenburg, IG Metall Executive Board member Wolfgang Lemb addressed the employees.
In Saxony, 200 workers at Siemens in Chemnitz walked off the job. Around 300 workers at Siemens Compressor Systems, Siemens Schaltanlagenbau Böhlitz-Ehrenberg, and the Siemens AG branch in Leipzig joined the IG Metall-called warning strike and rally in Leipzig-Plagwitz.
Expansion of warning strikes foreseeable
About 4,600 metalworkers from 23 plants in the Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt districts heeded IG Metall’s call . In the Hanover area, about 1,000 employees took part in actions, and more than 500 in Braunschweig. In Saxony-Anhalt, more than 400 workers took part in actions in Hettstedt and Schönebeck. Other focal points included the Osnabrück area, Nienburg-Stadthagen, and the South Lower Saxony-Harz region.
In the Coastal District, 655 workers from six companies in Hamburg and northwestern Lower Saxony took to the streets. Warning strikes took place at Hydro Aluminium in Hamburg, Linde & Wiemann in Südbrookmerland, as well as at Manitowoc, Wessel-Hydraulik, Neue Jadewerft, and Turbo-Technik in Wilhelmshaven.
IG Metall announced that further actions are planned throughout the afternoon and evening.
