2024 Metal and Electrical Industry Collective Bargaining Round Warning Strikes: 620,000 at Factory Gates

Last Tuesday at 12:01 a.m., when the peace obligation ended, IG Metall launched nationwide warning strikes as partofthecollective bargaining round in the metal and electrical industries. The goal: to finally get employers to make significant concessions in the 2024 metal industry collective bargaining negotiations. More than 620,000 workers participated in the warning strikes. 

On Monday, well over 100,000 people gathered once again outside factory gates and on the streets to ramp up pressure on employers ahead of the decisive negotiations in Hamburg.

4,000 demonstrate ahead of the negotiations in Hamburg

In Hamburg, 4,000 workers on warning strike demonstrated ahead of the negotiations (photo above). They marched through the city in three converging processions to the rally at the Fischmarkt in St. Pauli on the Elbe, where, in addition to IG Metall President Christiane Benner and the two chief negotiators—Horst Ott for Bavaria and Daniel Friedrich for the Coastal collective bargaining region—members of the negotiating committees from the various plants also spoke.

“With our warning strikes at our workplaces, we’ve shown the employers what we’re capable of. I’ll be taking this image with me into the negotiations later,” explained Sophia Jacobsen, works council chair at Airbus in Hamburg and a member of the negotiating committee for the Coastal collective bargaining region, in her speech at the Fischmarkt. She is annoyed by the whining about the difficult economic situation. “At Airbus, we have thousands of planes in our order books—and work lined up for the next eight years. And many companies are able to pay out insane dividends to their shareholders. But they’re not the ones doing the work. We are.” 

Extra Bonus for Apprentices Is Especially Important to Many

“We have to make a difference in the negotiations. Employers need to offer more than what they’ve proposed so far,” asserts a metalworker who works in engineering at Airbus. She considers the extra raise for apprentices to be particularly important. “Everything has become much more expensive. And these days, they no longer live with Mom and Dad—they often come from out of town.”

Yes, there are still quite a few companies that are doing well. “Our order books are fuller than ever; we’re even working on Saturdays,” explains a young metalworker who works at KHS Maschinenbau in Hamburg. Trainees are particularly important to him, too. “Have you ever looked at rents in Hamburg? Even I can barely afford them on my skilled worker’s wage.”

The disproportionate increase in training stipends for the skilled workers of tomorrow is a top priority for IG Metall. Daniel Friedrich, district director and chief negotiator for IG Metall Küste, makes this clear in his speech: “Without a good outcome for the trainees, there will be no agreement today.”

In addition to Hamburg, warning strike rallies took place in numerous other cities. And once again, nationwide warning strikes are scheduled for Monday. These include strikes at Alstom, Audi, BMW, Bosch, Daimler Truck, Iveco, Liebherr, Mercedes-Benz, Otis, Rheinmetall, Porsche, Still, and ZF.   

Negotiations Resume Monday Afternoon – 24-Hour Warning Strikes Planned

Negotiations resumed on Monday afternoon. The fourth round of negotiations is currently underway in Hamburg. The IG Metall executive board has tasked the Coastal and Bavaria regional branches with attempting to find a solution.

In the event that no agreement is reached, IG Metall has already planned full-day warning strikes, as IG Metall President Christiane Benner makes clear. “Either we reach an outcome that we can get through the door with, or we’ll have to step it up a notch and resort to 24-hour warning strikes,”   

In the regional collective bargaining negotiations, which have been ongoing since mid-September, IG Metall is demanding a 7 percent wage increase for employees—for a 12-month term—as well as a disproportionately high “attractiveness bonus” of 170 euros per month for apprentices. In addition to higher wages, IG Metall is also advocating in the negotiations for better options to choose between time off and pay, a social component, and “democracy time” at the workplace.

2024 Metal Industry Collective Bargaining Round

Demands for the 2024 Metal Industry Collective Bargaining Round

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