Press Release No. 17/2018 IG Metall: Collective bargaining negotiations will resume on Friday in Baden-Württemberg

Frankfurt am Main – Following today’s deliberations, the IG Metall Executive Board has decided to resume collective bargaining negotiations for the metal and electrical industries in the Baden-Württemberg district on Friday evening. “We have decided, following discussions within the Executive Board and across all collective bargaining committees nationwide, to make one more attempt in Baden-Württemberg to resolve the key issues of working hours and pay at the negotiating table, based on the proposed solutions currently on the table. I won’t hide the fact that we still have significant differences on some points. Key issues such as pay have not even been addressed yet. One thing is clear, however: the outcome is therefore more than uncertain. If no solution is reached by noon tomorrow, the Executive Board is prepared to immediately decide to escalate the labor dispute. This includes, in addition to the 24-hour warning strikes, moving directly to a strike vote across the board in individual regions,” said IG Metall Chairman Jörg Hofmann on Friday in Frankfurt.

Nationwide, in this round of collective bargaining, approximately 960,000 workers have so far supported IG Metall’s demands for a 6 percent pay increase, the right to short-time full-time work, and subsidies for workers in certain life situations through today’s warning strikes.