Germany's largest trade union IG Metall on Saturday agreed with the owners of the country's metallurgical plants a sectoral wage agreement affecting the interests of approximately 70,000 people working in northwest Germany.
Under the 15-month agreement, which was concluded after seven hours of negotiation, each worker will receive a one-time payment of € 250 on December 28 this year and February 28, 2022.
From February 28, 2023, metallurgists will receive an additional payment of 600 euros per year. The parties also agreed on a one-time coronavirus benefit of 500 euros, which should be paid by the end of June.
The union initially demanded a 4% wage increase for the metallurgists Thyssenkrupp and Salzgitter.
During the biggest economic crisis of the post-war period, the collective bargaining partners in the steel industry found a responsible and fair compromise, ”said Knut Giesler, head of IG Metall in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The parties also agreed to develop a collective bargaining agreement framework for the transition to CO-neutral steel production 2 .
In order to force the employer to make concessions, workers of metallurgical enterprises held warning strikes. Metallurgists from more than 34 companies took part in car parades and other events in Berlin, Brandenburg am Havel, Hennigsdorf and Ludwigsfeld. Numerous campaigns also took place on Tuesday in North Rhine-Westphalia - the largest in Duisburg. There, 1,300 employees demonstrated in front of MSV Stadium in a car cinema.
Recall that the Dutch mining and metallurgical holding Metinvest B.V. billionaires Rinat Akhmetov and Vadim Novinsky announced in Friday on the increase in wages of employees of the Ukrainian factories of the company without any strike action by the trade unions.
