Warning strikes roll across Germany's engineering sector

Apr 30, 2007, 9:07 GMT

Berlin - A series of brief strikes in the engineering sector rolled across Germany Monday, as the powerful IG-Metall union pressed its case for a 6.5-per-cent pay rise for the 3.4 million workers in this key export sector.

The so-called 'warning strikes' lasting up to two hours hit workshops in Berlin and the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hessen and Baden-Wuerttemberg before noon Monday, bringing workers out in their hundreds.

Employers and the union are to sit down to a fifth round of talks in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg on Thursday, with both sides saying they are aiming to reach agreement.

Employers are offering 2.5 per cent plus a bonus for this year of 0.5 per cent - less than half what IG-Metall is calling for.

Union officials say the strikes, which began Sunday, will multiply over the days ahead, reaching a peak as the negotiators begin talks. The Baden-Wuerttemberg round has often in the past paved the way to a deal.

Among the companies affected Monday were DaimlerChrysler, Siemens, Gillette and TRW. Some 1,400 workers downed tools at DaimlerChrysler's Dusseldorf and Rastatt plants.

Over the weekend IG-Metall leaders warned they were ready for a protracted battle and that the token strikes were merely a taste of more hard-hitting action in the weeks ahead.

Speaking to Bavarian radio Monday, the head of the state's business association in the sector, Bertram Brossardt, expressed strong criticism of the unions.

'We want to bring this to an end quickly,' he said, adding that the employers' offer was 'substantial.'

The union points to steady economic growth in Germany, with predictions of favourable conditions ahead. Workers should be rewarded for restraint shown in previous bargaining rounds, it says.

Management says Germany has only recently regained its competitiveness on world markets and notes that, with order books currently full, the strikes are hitting production.