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Pay Dispute

Warning Strikes Spread in German Engineering Sector

German engineering union IG Metall is upping the pressure in its pay dispute with employers. The union said that 30,000 workers downed tools briefly on Monday at firms including Volkswagen and Siemens. It is demanding an 8 percent pay increase.

German engineering trade union IG Metall broadened its campaign of brief work stoppages on Monday and said 30,000 workers had staged brief strikes across Germany to press the union's demand for 8 percent more pay.

Companies targeted include industrial group Siemens AG and car maker Volkswagen AG. More stoppages are planned for Tuesday.

The 8 percent pay claim for the 3.6 million workers in the engineering sector is the biggest wage hike IG Metall has sought in 16 years. The union is arguing that workers deserve a share in Germany's economic upturn over recent years.

While IG Metall indicated that it would settle for less, it has rejected an offer from employers of a 2.1 percent increase plus a one-time payment. It launched a campaign of brief walkouts on Saturday. IG Metall said it was a "provocation" that employees weren't even being offered enough to compensate for inflation.

A fourth round of talks is scheduled for November 11 in the southern state of Baden-Württemberg, where agreements often serve as pilot deals for the engineering sector nationwide. If no agreement is reached by mid-November, the union is legally entitled to declare that the talks have collapsed and can ballot its members for a full strike.

Meanwhile the head of the engineering employers federation, Martin Kannegiesser, warned that IG Metall risked hurting workers' interests by organizing strikes.

"A strike, planned on the model of 150 years ago to cause harm to business, will ultimately hurt everyone including, with a time lag, workers," Kannegiesser told Welt am Sonntag newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.

Economists say the financial crisis and fears of a recessionmean IG Metall will have to settle for a significantly lower pay increase than 8 percent and a longer-term contract.

cro -- with wire reports