Germany's powerful IG Metall union claimed a major victory Friday after it reached a deal with industrial employers to increase wages a total of 5.8 percent over 19 months, union representative Juerg Hofmann said. Though the deal itself was made for workers in the Baden-Wuerttemberg state and affects just 800,000 members, an agreement for one region typically sets the precedent for the rest of the country, along with the rest of IG Metall's members. Already, several other German states said they would likely implement the agreement, which stands to benefit some 3.4 million German workers.
See "German industrial union, employers agree to 4.1 wage increase", Associated Press, International Herald Tribune, May 3, 2007