After sixteen hours of negotiation, the metalworkers union IG Metall and the employers' organization of western Germany's textile and clothing industry signed, on March 11, 2008, a wage agreement. It plans a 3.6% wage increase effective on June 1, 2008 as well as a single €200 bonus for April and May for about 105.000 employees concerned in the former Lander. (Ref. 080201)
The agreement also plans to increase apprentices’ salary by 3.6%. Thus, they will get an extra €30 a month, as well as half of the single bonus. “This agreement enables the branch’s workers to have their fair share of the economic revival” said Helga Schwitzer, IG Metall’s chief negotiator. As for employers, they criticized the agreement, saying that it is a “tough compromise” which might jeopardize many jobs. Nonetheless, there are some elements of flexibility in the agreement. The IG Metall s
…Do you have information to share with us?