IG Metall launches warning strikes across Bavaria

About 3,800 employees at 34 Bavarian metal and electrical engineering companies joined warning strikes on Monday, as IG Metall stepped up pressure in a difficult pay dispute, BR24 reported. The union is seeking a five percent pay rise.

The largest strikes and rallies were held in Swabia and Lower Franconia. Around 600 employees at Rohde & Schwarz and Otto Christ in Memmingen took part, while about 500 workers from AGCO and Fendt-Caravan demonstrated in Asbach-Bäumenheim. IG Metall also planned a rally at Audi in Ingolstadt during the night shift, shortly before midnight.

In Königsberg, in Lower Franconia, around 300 employees gathered in the morning. Thomas Höhn, an IG Metall representative in Schweinfurt, said the employers’ current offer would mean a real-terms pay cut as rising prices reduce workers’ purchasing power. Some demonstrators told BR24 that everyday costs had risen sharply and described the offer of no immediate pay rise as “a slap in the face.”

IG Metall wants a five percent increase for employees and apprentices over 12 months, additional support for lower-paid groups and a share of profits at financially successful companies. The union also wants to discuss job security.

Employers’ offer, made in the second round of talks last week, includes a one-off payment equivalent to one percent of gross pay in July 2027 and a permanent 1.3 percent pay rise from July 2028. The employers’ association for Bavaria’s metal and electrical industries said 70 percent of workers in the sector were employed by companies in serious difficulty. It also cited the loss of 10,000 jobs a year in the industry in Bavaria and rejected the union’s proposal for profit-sharing.

IG Metall said the industry’s outlook was not uniformly bleak. The union cited surveys indicating that 62 percent of companies had returned to good or very good capacity utilisation, while noting that conditions varied across sectors. It said the automotive and supplier industries were weak, while aerospace, medical technology, electrical engineering and defence technology were booming.

The peace obligation for workers in the metal and electrical industries ended overnight from Saturday to Sunday. Smaller actions had already taken place on Sunday, and IG Metall said it planned to intensify its activity during the week. The date for the next negotiations was not yet clear.