2023/2024 Collective Bargaining Round for the Wood and Plastics Industries Wage Increases Secured: That Was the Wood and Plastics Collective Bargaining Round

In the collective bargaining round for the wood and plastics processing industry(HVI), IG Metall has achieved eleven regional collective bargaining agreements since January, which vary slightly from one another.  

First, there are inflation adjustment bonuses (IAP) of up to 2,300 euros net in 2024, typically paid in two installments: 

• March 2024: 1,150 euros IAP I 
• September 2024: 1,150 euros IAP II 

Apprentices generally receive half the IAP, though in some collective bargaining areas they may receive the full amount. 

Monthly wages will then increase in the fall of 2024 and the summer of 2025. 

• September / October 2024 (depending on the collective bargaining region): 5 percent increase in wages and salaries 
• June/July 2025 (depending on the collective bargaining region): 3 percent increase in wages and salaries. 

In Thuringia and Saxony, similar to Berlin and Brandenburg, a few percentage points will be added to bring wages in line with those in Saxony-Anhalt.   

Apprenticeship wages will increase by the same amount at the start of each training period—in August or September, depending on the collective bargaining region. 

The collective bargaining agreements have a term of 23 months and can be terminated for the first time on October 31, 2025. From then on, further pay increases are possible. 

In Berlin-Brandenburg, the collective bargaining agreement differs somewhat more significantly. The previous collective bargaining agreement remained in effect until March 31. The IAP is paid in two installments, in May and August. Remuneration will increase by 6 percent in January 2025 and by an additional 3.9 percent in September 2025. The term of the agreement is 21 months, ending on December 31, 2025. 

Details on the regional negotiation results:

Lower Saxony/Bremen

Baden-Württemberg

Bavaria

Rhineland-Palatinate

Saxony-Anhalt

Westphalia-Lippe

Hamburg

Hesse

Thuringia

Saxony

Berlin-Brandenburg

Over 14,000 Workers Take Part in Warning Strikes 

14,000 workers at 126 companies participated in 1,020 actions and warning strikes to secure their collective bargaining agreement. This was necessary because there is no so-called “pilot agreement” in the wood and plastics processing industry (HVI) that other bargaining regions would then adopt. And even more so than in the past, regional employers’ associations wanted to push through pay cuts once again in their respective bargaining regions. 

“The collective bargaining process was tough. Despite groundbreaking collective bargaining agreements in Lower Saxony and Baden-Württemberg, we had to fight all over again in every single bargaining region,” says Brigitte Döth, who coordinates IG Metall’s collective bargaining policy for the wood and plastics processing industry nationwide. “But we’ve shown that we’re ready to fight anywhere. In many companies, workers took part in a warning strike for the first time—including, for the first time, in Saxony.” 

The negotiations in Saxony in particular illustrate the situation on the employers’ side: The chief negotiator in Saxony was the same as in Lower Saxony. In Lower Saxony, he reached a collective bargaining agreement with IG Metall in mid-January, but then deemed it too costly in Saxony—even though wages there were already lagging behind. Workers had to go on a warning strike in mid-February to exert pressure for their collective bargaining agreement. In the end, the IG Metall negotiating committee even secured an additional increase totaling 3.15 percent, as well as disproportionately large raises for apprentices. 

Even in the traditionally strong collective bargaining region of Westphalia-Lippe, home to numerous furniture manufacturers, workers had to apply pressure through two waves of warning strikes to keep pace with the other bargaining regions. Six hundred workers on warning strike from 12 companies attended the demonstration ahead of the fourth and decisive round of negotiations in Herford.