Press Release No. 12/2017 IG Metall: Steel Collective Bargaining Agreement Ensures a Fair Share of Economic Success

Frankfurt am Main – IG Metall views the collective bargaining agreement for the 72,000 employees in the steel industry in northwestern Germany positively. “With this collective bargaining agreement, employees will receive a fair share of the industry’s economic success,” said IG Metall Chairman Jörg Hofmann on Friday in Frankfurt. The continuation of the partial retirement program will help companies adapt to demographic change, Hofmann said. This outcome was made possible above all by the pressure exerted by more than 14,000 steelworkers who participated in warning strikes.

The agreement reached early Friday morning provides for a 2.3 percent wage increase for 13 months starting April 1, 2017, and a 1.7 percent increase for eight months starting May 1, 2018. Apprentice wages will increase for all apprentices by the amount of the raise for the fourth year of training. The collective bargaining agreement expires on December 31, 2018.