Germany: IG Metall wants 8.2%

Germany’s largest union, IG Metall, is looking for an 8.2% increase in pay for its members in the steel industry. The demand was agreed at a meeting of the union’s negotiations committee on 8 May and presented to the employers in the first round of pay talks on 13 May. IG Metall argues that, with inflation at 7.4% (April) and high levels of steel production, its demand is entirely reasonable. As Birgit Dietze, head of the union’s Berlin region, points out, “employees need compensation for higher living costs”.