Major German union IG Metall said on Monday that it plans to demand significantly higher pay for the approximately 3.9 million employees in the German metal and electrical industry.
The union's executive board wants company bosses to give workers a 7% increase in pay, the union said in Frankfurt. This would be for the 12 months covered by the next collective wage agreement.
Training allowances should be increased by €170 ($182), it said.
IG Metall boss Christiane Benner said she understood the volatile situation that individual companies were in. However, this should not obscure the stability of the industry as a whole and improved economic forecasts.
Benner said that IG Metall was demonstrating a sense of proportion in its demands. "However, not all employees in the industry should suffer from the situation of individual companies. What counts for us are the realities in the companies and respect for the employees."
"The companies have a comfortable cushion of orders, and the employees have to work hard," she argued.
The recommendation by the union is not yet a final demand. This step has to wait until the issue is discussed in the coming weeks in the regional bargaining committees.
At the beginning of July, the IG Metall executive board will then decide on the final nationwide demand.
