Catherwood LibraryILR School

Several thousand members of German construction union IG Bau will go out on strike at worksites in Berlin and Hamburg today, after the union?s 340,000 members voted by an overwhelming 98.63 percent this Saturday to strike over pay and other issues (see WIT for June 4, 2002). Bau officials have made it clear that members are ready for a drawn out fight, and that this first strike in the post-WWII era will be expanded throughout the entire country in the coming week if a contract agreement is not reached. With the union calling for an immediate 4.5 percent raise, and the construction employers offering three percent in September and an additional one-time payment amounting to another 1.7 percent, the main obstacle to an agreement seems to be the refusal of employers to bring industry wages in eastern Germany up to western levels.