PRESS RELEASE NO. 07/2021 IG Metall: 20,000 metalworkers on warning strike

Frankfurt am Main – Nearly 20,000 workers from more than 140 companies across Germany took part in warning strikes today as part of the collective bargaining dispute in the metal and electrical industries (as of 2:00 p.m.). Since the end of the peace obligation at midnight on Monday, March 1, a total of approximately 87,500 metalworkers have gone on warning strikes. In doing so, they have underscored their collective bargaining demands and protested against the employers’ inadequate offer.

On Wednesday, the warning strikes were concentrated inthe IG Metalldistrict of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. There, approximately 5,610 workers from 19 companies briefly walked off the job.

In Bavaria, 4,120 workers from 15 companies joined the warning strike. At Schaeffler in Schweinfurt, a rally with 1,000 participants took place in the morning. At MTU in Munich, 800 metalworkers took part in a “warning strike caravan” featuring nine 30-minute warning strikes.

In Baden-Württemberg, 3,450 workers went on a brief walkout. Thirty-seven plants were affected. By early afternoon, 660 colleagues from several plants alone had participated in early-closing actions in the Reutlingen-Tübingen branch area.

Inthe IGMetall Central District (Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Thuringia, Saarland), approximately 3,000 metalworkers from 28 plants heeded the union’s call for a warning strike. Among others, 200 employees on the early shift at CompAir and Boge in Simmern temporarily stopped work starting at 6:30 a.m. Jörg Köhlinger, head of IG Metall Mitte and chief negotiator, called on employers outside the factory gates to abandon their obstructionist stance.

In the Berlin, Brandenburg, and Saxony district, 2,240 workers from 14 companies went on strike, including those at Siemens and BMW.

In North Rhine-Westphalia, 1,250 workers took part in the warning strikes. During a nighttime protest at AluNorf in Neuss, 250 workers gathered in front of the factory gate carrying torches. The largest protest took place in Arnsberg: In a drive-in theater set up specifically for the rally, 250 workers—representing delegations from 20 companies in the region—participated in the warning strike.

In the Küste district, the warning strikes focused on the Diehl Aviation plant in Hamburg. Here, 230 colleagues participated.

By early Tuesday afternoon, approximately 60,000 colleagues had heeded the call for a warning strike. Later that afternoon, another 7,600 joined them, bringing the total number of employees who have participated in warning strikes since the end of the peace obligation to approximately 87,500.