DIG Metall wants to achieve a noticeable wage increase in the forthcoming collective bargaining for the metal and electrical industry. According to a statement by IG Metall, the union is demanding eight percent more wages for its almost 400,000 employees in the metal and electrical industry in Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Thuringia and Saarland.
The forthcoming collective bargaining talks, which begin on September 14, are taking place again in challenging conditions where the order books at companies, such as in the auto industry, are bulging, according to the union, which acknowledges that energy costs are rising due to the war in the Ukraine have increased enormously. However, while companies could partly pass these costs on to customers, employees would have to bear them themselves and also cope with the sharp increase in expenses for food and other everyday products.
According to Jörg Köhlinger, head of IG Metall Mitte and chief negotiator, employers shouldn’t duck, they also have to make their contribution to overcoming the crisis. “After four years, the employees urgently need a spreadsheet increase in wages. IG Metall will do everything in its power to prevent a freeze, a weekly extension of working hours or an extension of working life, as proposed by some employers,” said Köhlinger.
War increases the problems
On the other hand, the negotiator from the employers’ association Hessenmetall, Oliver Barta, criticized that the demands of IG Metall were “far removed from any reality”. The upturn hoped for after the long Corona crisis, which is still not over, has failed, says Barta. “Economists’ forecasts see us facing a recession. A return to the pre-crisis level of 2018 is impossible this year and not at all foreseeable next year either.”
The Ukraine war exacerbated the problems raised by the Corona crisis, such as a lack of raw materials and disrupted supply chains, while at the same time bringing about an energy crisis. “Our metal and electrical industry is particularly affected by these exploding energy prices and the price increases for raw materials. All this in a phase in which our companies need every euro for investments in the structural change driven primarily by decarbonization and digitization,” Barta continued to argue.
During the Corona crisis, many companies would have retained their employees with the help of short-time work, although less could be produced, and used financial reserves for this. “First of all, real growth must be created again and money must be earned in order to meet these challenges, to master the structural change and to strengthen competitiveness again.”
The regional negotiations begin on September 14 in Oberursel for Mitte and in Eisenach in the afternoon for Thuringia.
