Frankfurt am Main – The Executive Board of IG Metall recommends that the regional bargaining committees in the metal and electrical industries promptly begin exploratory talks with the regional employers’ associations regarding a “future package.” “However, we expect the employers’ associations to declare their willingness to urge their member companies to refrain from unilaterally announcing staff cuts, product relocations, and plant closures during the moratorium,” said Jörg Hofmann, President of IG Metall, on Tuesday in Frankfurt.
“Workers in the metal and electrical industries demand security amid the digital and ecological transformation. Social cohesion also requires sustainable prospects for people—and we need them now! Companies should therefore now lay the groundwork for future collective bargaining agreements that secure investment and product commitments, training, and the exclusion of layoffs for operational reasons,” said Hofmann.
For the upcoming collective bargaining negotiations, IG Metall is not making a specific demand for a wage increase. The IG Metall Executive Board recommends that the regional bargaining committees continue to prioritize strengthening workers’ purchasing power when setting wage and apprenticeship stipend increases.
The IG Metall Executive Board clearly rejected calls from individual employers’ associations for a wage freeze.
The executive board also recommends including the following provisions in a regional “future package”:
In cases of underutilization, priority should be given to reducing the workload without cutting wages.
All employees should be entitled to subsidized vocational training under the Qualification Opportunities Act.
The quotas for partial retirement and other models of a smooth transition should be increased in line with demographic trends.
A sustainability bonus for IG Metall members—as a continuous, collectively bargained fixed amount—should be agreed upon.
The following points are to be discussed by the bargaining committees as separate regional or nationwide issues:
· collective bargaining provisions to improve vocational training and support dual-track students,
· the harmonization of working hours in the East German metal and electrical industry,
· deferred compensation and company pension plans.
Note to editorial offices regarding the further schedule:
The regional bargaining committees will meet nationwide on Thursday, February 20, 2020, to adopt resolutions on regional demands and the termination of wage agreements. The IG Metall Executive Board will adopt the final demand on Wednesday, February 26.
