Germany: IG-Metall – still growing – wants to launch an initiative “in favor of codetermination”

At the annual press conference on January 21, Detlef Wetzel, the new chairman of the IG-Metall, gave a positive overview of 2013.  Not only did the IG-Metall manage to get more members again, but it also won political victories.  Thus, its biggest claims (introduction of universal minimum wage…) have been included in the program of Angela Merkel’s new coalition government.  However, the union leader says the measures proposed to combat excessive use of service provision contracts are still not enough.  For 2014, the union wants to fight to improve works councils’ rights in this area and launch an initiative in favor of codetermination.  The IG-Metall will put this issue at the center of the elections for WC representatives, which will take place throughout the country between March 1 and May 31.
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More and more members. Elected as leader of the IG-Metall on November 24, 2013 (see article No. 130739), Detlef Wetzel presented several positive figures at the annual press conference on January 21 in Frankfurt. For the 3rd year in a row, the IG-Metall has seen its size grow. In 2013, the union got about 110,000 new members. Minus the leaves, it means that there have been about 2,000 new members last year. With 2.226 million members, the IG-Metall is still the biggest union in...

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