On October 29, the IG Metall trade union announced the beginning of the first wave of protests in the German metallurgical and electrical industry, which unites several key industries, including mechanical engineering and a significant part of the automotive industry. This is reported by foreign media.
The warning strike was attended by 250 employees of German automakers Volkswagen in Osnabrück and BMW in Regensburg, as well as 500 employees of Porsche in Stuttgart.
In addition, the strike was held at Bosch factories in Reutlingen (1.3 thousand employees), ZF in Friedrichshafen (3 thousand), Daimler Buses in Neu-Ulm (over 2.5 thousand), at the Clarios battery manufacturer in Hanover (200 employees) and enterprises of Jensen GmbH, KSM Castings Group, Robert Bosch, Waggonbau Graaff and ZF CV Systems in Hildesheim (Germany). Employees of the Audi plant in Ingolstadt (Germany) intend to support the strike.
After the second round of negotiations, unions and employers could not overcome their differences. IG Metall demands an increase in the salary of interns by 170 euros and wages by 7% within 12 months for 3.9 million employees of enterprises against the background of inflation in Germany. The management of the companies proposes two increases (by 1.7% and 1.9%) for 27 months, starting in July 2025.
In addition, employees of Volkswagen plants oppose the closure of three plants in Germany, which will lead to job cuts and the closure of other plants.
IG Metall considers this stage of the protests as a precautionary one.
