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6 May, 2003Warning strikes kick off IG Metall campaign to put metalworkers in the east on par with those in the west.
GERMANY: In a bid to gradually introduce the 35-hour workweek for its members in the metal and electrical industry in eastern Germany, IG Metall staged walkouts in four auto plants on May 5. Targeted were three Volkswagen plants and one Opel plant.
IG Metall, the IMF-affiliated German metalworkers' union, says that 13 years after the country's reunification, it's time for further steps to be taken towards realising the same working and income conditions for employees in the eastern part of the country as their counterparts in the west. Although weekly base pay is the same, the 310,000 metalworkers in the east have a 38-hour workweek, as opposed to the 35 hours worked in the west.
Contract negotiations between IG Metall and employers in the eastern German metal and electrical industry will begin in mid-May, but the union is nevertheless preparing a vote for a possible strike in early June.