German metalworkers start strikes for 28-hour week

AFP, BERLIN: Germany’s powerful metalworkers union has called for mass strikes from yesterday over pay and working hours that could impact a key industry and the shape of labour nationwide.

IG Metall aren’t just asking for a pay rise but also demanding the right for workers to temporarily switch to a 28-hour week to care for children or elderly relatives.

Employers say such a drastic change would be illegal and have threatened to go to court to stop the industrial action.

If the two sides can’t agree on the terms of the negotiation by late January, the stage could be set for longer, more damaging walkouts.

So-called “warning strikes” are a familiar feature of the annual collective bargaining process, with workers downing tools for a few hours to demonstrate at factory gates and in town squares.

But there has been no nationwide, open-ended strike in Germany since 2003.

IG Metall expects up to 700,000 to participate in the ritual, running for at least a week from Monday.

Strikes will stretch from Germany’s “rust belt” in western North Rhine-Westphalia state to Brandenburg, Saxony and Berlin in the former communist east and the hyper-modern car factories of southwestern Baden-Wuerttemberg.

 

German metalworkers start strikes for 28-hour week

AFP, BERLIN: Germanys powerful metalworkers union has called for mass strikes from yesterday over pay and working hours that could impact a key industry and the shape of labour nationwide. IG Metall arent just asking for a pay rise but also demanding the right for workers to temporarily switch to a 28-hour week to care for children or elderly relatives. Employers say such a drastic change would be illegal and have threatened to go to court to stop the industrial action. If the two sides cant agree on the terms of the negotiation by late January, the stage could be set for longer, more damaging walkouts. So-called warning strikes are a familiar feature of the annual collective bargaining process, with workers downing tools for a few hours to demonstrate at factory gates and in town squares. But there has been no nationwide, open-ended strike in Germany since 2003. IG Metall expects up to 700,000 to participate in the ritual, running for at least a week from Monday. Strikes will stretch from Germanys rust belt in western North Rhine-Westphalia state to Brandenburg, Saxony and Berlin in the former communist east and the hyper-modern car factories of southwestern Baden-Wuerttemberg.