German union, employers reach wage deal
FRANKFURT AM MAIN — Almost 1 million employees with Germany’s powerful metalworking union IG Metall won higher pay and the right to a reduced working week in an agreement with employers on Monday, potentially staving off the threat of fresh strikes after a week of walkouts.
Both the union and employers said in a statements that they had reached a “tolerable compromise” with some “painful elements” covering 900,000 workers in key industrial state Baden-Wuerttemberg, which could be extended to the 3.9 million workers in the sector across the country.
The key concession is the right for more senior employees to cut their working week to 28 hours for a limited period of six to 24 months.
The union had pushed for staff to have a right to more flexible working conditions around key life moments such as the birth of a child, looking after a relative or ill health — with the right to return to fulltime hours afterward.
But bosses rejected unions’ demand that they continue paying full-time salaries to some of those who choose a limited period of reduced working hours.
Meanwhile, employers also gained more flexibility, to increase willing workers’ weeks to 40 hours from the standard 35.
The compromise was “reasonably balanced” between the needs of the two sides, said Stefan Wolf, head of regional employers’ federation Suedwestmetall.
“Employees get more options to reduce their working time, while companies have more ways to increase the total number of hours worked.”
Firms had feared that granting too generous a deal on hours would drastically slash the amount of labor available — at a time when the economy is bounding ahead, leaving some companies struggling to fill orders and to find skilled workers for open positions.
For IG Metall, “the agreement is a milestone on the way to a modern, self-determined world of work”, said leader Joerg Hofmann.
With the focus on the union’s unprecedented working time vision, their opening demand for a 6 percent salary increase received less attention.
The two sides agreed a compromise of a 4.3 percent salary increase from April, with some additional one-off payments.
IG Metall chief Hofmann said the deal “will have a positive effect on the whole economy” by strengthening domestic demand. But employers’ leader Wolf said it would be “difficult to bear” for some firms.