German metal pay talks: employers offer 1.3% from 2028, IG Metall says no
In the second round of talks, metal and electrical employers made a first offer: a one-off payment in 2027 and a 1.3% raise from July 2028. IG Metall called it too low; warning strikes are possible from Nov. 1.
Symbolic image · Photo: Frank Vincentz / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped and resized)
Employers in Germany's metal and electrical industry presented their first offer on Tuesday in a wage dispute covering about 3.7 million workers. At the second round of talks in North Rhine-Westphalia, they proposed a one-off payment worth 1% of annual pay in July 2027 and a 1.3% pay increase in July 2028, with a 26-month term, dpa-AFX reported. The offer was coordinated with all of the industry's employer associations. Second rounds were also held Tuesday in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria, Lower Saxony, Saxony and the northern coastal district.
IG Metall is demanding a 5% raise over 12 months plus agreements to secure sites and jobs. The union rejected the offer as too late, too low and too long, saying it would not come close to offsetting price increases. It also criticized a clause that could let struggling companies skip the one-off payment, and a proposal for works councils rather than the union to negotiate plant-level agreements on investment and jobs.
Employers' negotiator Arndt G. Kirchhoff called the offer a sign of employers' willingness to find a quick and constructive solution, saying companies needed cost relief rather than higher costs. The no-strike obligation expires on Oct. 31, making warning strikes possible from Nov. 1. About 640,000 of the industry's workers are in North Rhine-Westphalia. Further rounds run through Friday, with Berlin-Brandenburg scheduled for Thursday.