Frankfurt am Main – In the collective bargaining dispute in the metal and electrical industries, IG Metall massively expanded its warning strikes on Tuesday. By early afternoon (2 p.m.), more than 86,000 workers from nearly 570 companies had briefly walked off the job. “The high turnout of warning strikers shows that they are committed and vocal in their justified demand for a 5 percent pay increase,” said Jörg Hofmann, President of IG Metall, on Tuesday in Frankfurt. IG Metall reported that, nationwide, more than 225,000 workers have participated in rallies and warning strike actions since the end of the peace obligation. Further warning strike actions are planned for the course of the afternoon and evening.
On Tuesday, the warning strikes were concentrated in North Rhine-Westphalia, where more than 35,000 workers from nearly 290 companies demonstrated. In Lemgo, 2,800 warning strikers took part in a demonstration march, which concluded with a rally at the local market square. At a rally at Siemens Energy in Mühlheim an der Ruhr, Wolfgang Lemb, executive board member of IG Metall, addressed 1,700 warning strikers.
In Bavaria, more than 21,000 workers from around 70 companies heeded IG Metall’s call for a warning strike and temporarily walked off the job. A major focus of the actions was in Nuremberg, with over 5,700 warning strikers. In Schweinfurt and Munich, approximately 4,100 workers each took part in warning strikes.
In Baden-Württemberg , around 15,000 workers from 117 companies took part in rallies and warning strike actions. In Wiesloch, 2,500 warning strikers from four companies gathered in front of the Heideldruck factory gate. At John Deere, 1,000 warning strikers briefly walked off the job.
In the IG Metall Central District , approximately 6,000 warning strikers from 35 companies in Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Thuringia, and the Saarland took part in warning strike actions. At Opel and GKN in Kaiserslautern, 1,400 workers went on strike.
In the IG Metall Berlin-Brandenburg-Saxony district , more than 5,700 workers from 25 companies briefly walked off the job. In Berlin, Irene Schulz, executive board member of IG Metall, addressed a rally of more than 3,000 warning strikers from 17 companies. At Porsche in Leipzig, 1,200 workers took part in a rally.
In Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt , approximately 2,300 workers from 25 companies heeded IG Metall’s call for a warning strike. The focus was on the South Lower Saxony/Harz region, where nearly 700 workers briefly walked off the job.
In the IG Metall “Küste” district , 1,100 workers from ten companies in Bremen, northwestern Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, and—for the first time—Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania took part in IG Metall’s warning strike actions. The largest rally took place at Manitowoc in Wilhelmshaven, with around 500 workers in attendance.
