The unions have to ensure that the workers don’t get under the wheels in the face of inflation.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin The IG Metall goes with the demand for eight percent more money in the collective bargaining round for the approximately 3.9 million employees in the metal and electrical industry. This was decided by the union board on Monday in Berlin.
“The employees need relief, also with a view to their bills, which will increase again in 2023, said IG Metall boss Jörg Hofmann. The economy needs rising incomes and stable consumption as an existential support. “Employers must now make their fair contribution.” It is the highest demand since 2008, when IG Metall also demanded an eight percent increase in wages.
The board is following the districts that had spoken out in favor of the upper end of its demand range of seven to eight percent. In individual regions, significantly higher percentages were mentioned in the collective bargaining debate. Since the metal collective bargaining parties had agreed on two crisis wage agreements in a row in view of the corona pandemic, the last regular percentage wage increase was a good four years ago.
With its demand, the union wants to at least partially absorb the price increases expected for the current and the coming year. The Bundesbank assumes inflation will average 7.75 percent in 2022 and 4.5 percent in 2023.
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In addition, IG Metall points to a record number of orders, which give the industry work for six months. The earnings situation of the companies is also solid. Around 70 percent of the works councils surveyed by the trade union assess this for the current year as good or rather good. However, expectations for the current year are less optimistic than looking back at the past financial year.
Employers point to the heterogeneity of the metal and electrical industry, which includes high-margin car manufacturers as well as small foundries and medium-sized metal processing companies. The companies in the metal and electrical industry, which suffered from massive energy price increases and supply chain problems, are currently producing twelve percent less than in 2018.
And even if the last regular increase in the table was in 2018, the collective wages in the industry have risen by 9.2 percent since then thanks to corona bonuses, one-off payments and collectively agreed recurring additional amounts, according to the employers’ association Gesamtmetall. Since 2007, earnings in the metal and electrical industry have risen almost twice as fast as consumer prices.
Collective bargaining, initially conducted at regional level, begins in mid-September. The peace obligation ends on October 28, after which strikes are possible.
More: “Historic challenge”: Alliance against inflation to bring results in autumn