PRESS STATEMENT IG Metall Rejects Attack on the Right to Strike

Christiane Benner, President, and Nadine Boguslawski, Member of the Executive Board responsible for collective bargaining at IG Metall, comment on the draft bill presented today by the employers’ association Gesamtmetall on “Arbitration in Labor Disputes”:

Christiane Benner, President of IG Metall:

“The right to strike is the most important tool for conducting collective bargaining on an equal footing.

An attack on it is an attack on our constitutionally guaranteed rights and also on the specific procedures within our collective bargaining movements. Gesamtmetall’s demands would amount to an encroachment on the right to strike. This right has already been sufficiently defined by the case law of the Federal Constitutional Court and the Federal Labor Court. This must not and will not happen. Hands off the right to strike!

Furthermore, clear collective bargaining rules regarding arbitration already exist. Our understanding of collective bargaining autonomy is that we, as social partners—not the legislature—regulate these processes. It is surprising, to say the least, that it is precisely on this point that our understanding of collective bargaining autonomy diverges.”

Nadine Boguslawski, IG Metall Executive Board Member for Collective Bargaining:

“The right to strike is the most important right of workers. Any statutory regulation of the right to strike is a gateway to further restrictions and tightening of the rules. Without the unrestricted right to strike, collective bargaining would be nothing more than collective begging. An unrestricted right to strike means collective bargaining on equal footing.

It is absurd for Gesamtmetall to praise the proven collective bargaining arbitration process alongside us, while at the same time preparing a statutory regulation and restriction.

Whether strikes are proportionate or not is already a matter for the independent judiciary to decide. That is why this right must remain enshrined in the Constitution.”

Further information and press photos from:
Christiane Benner, President
Nadine Boguslawski, Executive Board Member for Collective Bargaining