Germany: marked decline in the number of strikers in 2009

More and more conflicts at company level. According to the WSI, the marked decline in the number of strikers in 2009 mostly comes from the fact that some key sectors, such as metal, already signed collective agreements in 2008 that were still valid in 2009. In 2008, the collective agreement in metalworking came after major warning strikes, that caused the high number of strikers that year. However, Heiner Dribbusch, expert in industrial conflicts at the WSI, thinks that, in spite of the lower number of strikers in 2009, the trend of increased conflicts for collective bargaining, with many strikes, which started a few years back, was still visible last year (see our dispatch No. 080384). Thus, the number of strikes in 2009 remained stable compared with 2008. This comes from the increase in “smaller conflicts” about “company collective agreements” (Haustarifverträge). They are agreements concluded, at company level, between the management and unions. “This form of tough conflict often comes when employers try to get out of the collective bargaining system” Mr. Dribbusch explains. Most of these conflicts last year took place in the provision of services. Verdi alone had to answer to 163 strike requests as opposed to 149 in 2008 and 82 in 2007. However, services wasn’t the only sector affected. On February 25, 2009, nearly 15,000 Opel employees demonstrated during a European action day to maintain their sites. Over 10,000 ThyssenKrupp employees downed tools on May 11 to protest against staffing cut program.