IG Metall - A Trade Union in Crisis?
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Case Details:
Case Code : HROB084
Case Length : 16 Pages
Period : 1994-2006
Pub Date : 2006
Teaching Note : Available
Organization : IG Metall Trade Union
Industry : Diversified
Countries : Germany, Europe
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"There is no union that has more radical, more militant,
more old-fashioned views than IG Metall."1
- Hans-Olaf Henkel, President, Federal Association of German
Industry, in 2000.
"Whole economies are being blackmailed by ruthless global
companies in the pursuit of even greater profit." 2
- Jurgen Peters, President, IG Metall Trade Union, in 2005.
Introduction
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On April 24, 2006, an agreement was reached between IG Metall Trade Union (IG
Metall, also known as Industrie Gewerkschaft Metall or German Metalworker's
Union), one of the oldest and largest trade unions in Germany and Gesamtmetall
National Employers' Group3 (Gesamtmetall)
on the wage increase for the union's 3.4 million members. Under the agreement,
which was valid for 13 months, its members would receive a wage hike of three
percent from June 2006 and a one time payment of 310 Euros as bonus for the
months of March, April, and May 2006. This agreement avoided a series of
nationwide strikes that IG Metall had planned to hold in Germany.
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After the agreement, Gesamtmetall members threatened to cut jobs or move
them out of Germany. They said that the agreement would increase labor costs
and make exports less competitive.
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It was estimated that an IG Metall worker in Germany
made on an average about 25 Euros an hour when compared to 6 Euros
per hour earned by a worker in East European countries. The
employers also warned that this wage increase could threaten the
recovery of the fragile German economy. They felt that the agreement
would worsen the unemployment situation in Germany4.
Anton Boerner, head of one of the employer's federation wrote, "It's
going to be very, very difficult for employment in Germany. Three
percent is simply too much."5
The agreement was of great significance to the German economy, the
biggest economy in Europe, as it set the agenda for other trade
unions in Germany in terms of collective bargaining6. |
IG Metall - A Trade Union in Crisis?
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