Collective negotiations in the metals sector culminated in a final 16-hour negotiation marathon in Böblingen, Baden- Württemberg ending at five in the morning with a pilot agreement on salaries between IG Metall and the employers’ body Südwestmetall. The agreement comes after a series of warning strikes by close to 850,000 workers affecting approximately 3,800 businesses throughout Germany since the end of January, and its contents will apply to roughly 3.8 million employees. The agreement allows for a wage increase of 3.4% as of April 01, 2015 as well as a one off bonus of 150 euros paid in March. Also the agreement renews, although under a different form, the collective agreement on early retirement and contains a compromise over vocational training. The collective agreement will expire on March 31, 2016
Rainer Dulger, president of the employers’ body, Gesamtmetall declared himself “satisfied” with the agreement as it had lifted the specter of unlimited strikes. He continued saying that the wage rises were “certainly painful and at or beyond in some cases the limit of what was bearable”. However employers succeeded in blocking IG Metall’s “qualitative demands” (c.f.
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