Germany: faced with industry sector upheaval, the IG Metall body seeks to strengthen co-management as well as the collective agreement system

During the IG Metall national congress held in Nuremberg between 06 and 12 October, Jörg Hofmann, the head of Germany’s biggest 2.3 million member strong trade union, was voted in for a second four-year term, but surprisingly, and in contrast with his 91.3% majority in the 2015 vote, Mr. Hofmann only garnered 71% of the vote, making this the second lowest majority in the whole of the trade union’s 70-year history.
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Visibly disappointed by the result, the union leader nevertheless tried to rally delegates and gain their support on the following day with a long keynote speech that was both combative and complex. The leader detailed at length the size of the challenges facing metallurgy and electro-technical businesses (globalization, digitalization, climate protection, electro-mobility), and he underlined that IG Metall intended to actively participate in the transformation processes. The leader...

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