Catherwood LibraryILR School

Having rejected an offer from employers of a two percent raise per year for the next two years, German industrial trade union IG Metall has announced that it will begin holding brief warning strikes next week. With 2.8 million members, IG Metall is the country’s largest industrial trade union and its contracts usually set the pattern for collective bargaining settlements throughout Germany. The union is calling for a 6.5 percent increase in wages, pointing to the fact that the 2.1 percent increase negotiated in 2000 fell short of Germany’s annual inflation rate for 2001---leading to a decline in real wages for its members.