IG Metall stir to hit DaimlerChrysler
STUTTGART: Germany's IG Metall industrial workers union said on Monday it
would stage its first warning strike in support of a 5.5 percent pay demand
on Wednesday at DaimlerChrysler's Sindelfingen works.
IG Metall said 2,000 workers on the night shift would down tools for two
hours starting at midnight (2200 GMT) at the plant near the company's
headquarters in Stuttgart.
The union said a further walkout would be staged later on Wednesday, with
20,000 workers expected to take part at Sindelfingen, which produces
Mercedes cars including the big-selling S-Class prestige model.
Warning strikes are typically brief stoppages, and IG Metall leader Klaus
Zwickel has warned he would ballot members over all-out strike action over
the Easter break if the Gesamtmetall employers federation fails to bow to
the union's pressure.
"We are going to get what we think is fair, and we will fight for it if
necessary," Zwickel told meeting of IG Metall functionaries at the weekend.
Wage talks have failed to make any progress, with employers offering a pay
rise of only 1.5 percent to 3.4 million workers represented by IG Metall and
rejecting the union's calls to reduce the retirement age to 60 from 65.
IG Metall, the most militant of Germany's big trade unions, has refused to
moderate its pay claim -- which is well over the 1.9 percent inflation
rate -- even though a more modest deal was struck last week in the chemicals
industry.
Chemicals workers accepted two pay rises of 2.2 percent and two percent
spread over 21 months in a deal which also prolonged an agreement allowing
older employees to scale back their working hours before retiring.
Zwickel has insisted that the deal struck in the west German chemicals
industry would not serve as a model for talks for workers in the engineering
sector.
The European Central Bank is keeping close watch on pay talks in Europe's
largest economy, warning that excessive increases could trigger higher wage
settlements across the euro zone and spark a new wage-price spiral.
In the latest indication that Europe's central bankers are being vigilant on
German pay, Bank of Portugal governor Vitor Constancio said on Monday that
high German pay rises could force up unemployment.
"The consequence of high salaries in Germany would basically be higher
unemployment. The ECB will use its (monetary) instruments in an independent
fashion to guarantee that medium-term inflation does not exceed two
percent," Constancio told Reuters in Oporto, Portugal. (Reuters)
For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service
|Disclaimer|
For comments and feedback send Email
© Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. 2000.