Debts in NRW
IG Metall warning strikes begin on Saturday morning
10/28/2022 3:39 p.m
The warning strikes in the metal and electrical industry in North Rhine-Westphalia begin shortly after midnight. Work is also stopped in other collective bargaining districts after the failure of the third round of collective bargaining.
In the wage dispute in the metal and electrical industry, IG Metall has announced the first warning strikes for Saturday. In North Rhine-Westphalia, they should begin with the end of the peace obligation early on Saturday morning at 0.01 a.m. in five companies, as reported by the trade union in Düsseldorf. Strikes are planned in Dinslaken, Hagen, Wuppertal, Monheim and Bielefeld in the morning and in Bocholt in the morning. There will be a warning strike in Recklinghausen on Sunday.
Warning strikes are also planned in other collective bargaining districts. The union had previously rejected an initial offer from the employer as “insufficient”. Almost four million people are employed in the industry, around 700,000 of them in North Rhine-Westphalia.
In the third round of negotiations in Neuss, the employers also offered a tax and duty-free “inflation compensation premium” of 3,000 euros, as well as a later, as yet unspecified increase in the salary scales, as in other collective bargaining districts. The term should be 30 months. The union, on the other hand, is demanding eight percent more wages for a period of twelve months. The collective bargaining parties in North Rhine-Westphalia agreed on a fourth round of negotiations for November 10th.
Last week, unions and employers in the chemical industry agreed on a new collective bargaining package for the 580,000 employees. It provides for special payments totaling 3,000 euros and table-based pay increases of 3.25 percent each for January 2023 and January 2024. The term ends on June 30, 2024. The boss of the chemical union IG BCE, Michael Vassiliadis, sees the deal as a signal for other sectors as well.