The two-year collective agreement applying to the German metal sector, which begun at the beginning of 2013, will expire on 31 December. Social partners in the sector are already starting to formulate their demands, with the backdrop in Germany being one of economic slowdown. The Industrial Union of Metalworkers (IG Metall) is establishing a plan to improve the transition to early retirement, as well as to promote training for qualified staff, with on-going training more systematically incorporated into collective agreements. From his perspective, the President of Gesamtmetall, an employers’ federation, explains that companies, faced with a very unstable international situation, will not be able to afford all the unions’ demands, and that they must be willing to settle.
Train employees to reach industry 4.0. The metal sector is known as the ‘heart’ of the German economy; after two years without discussion, the industry is preparing to renegotiate the collective agreements. The agreement which is currently binding expires at the end of 2014 and official renegotiations will get underway at some point in January 2015. Already, the first few meetings have taken place on a regional level between bosses and employee representatives.
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