Thousands of German metal and electrical workers have joined further warning strikes as a dispute over pay and job security continues across the country’s industrial regions.
In northern Germany, the IG Metall union said more than 6,500 employees took part in stoppages on Wednesday 4 November. It said the action included workers at the Hamburg and Bremen Mercedes-Benz plants and at a forklift manufacturer in Hamburg.
In the Stuttgart area, the union said more than 3,500 employees from Porsche businesses and Siemens gathered for a demonstration and rally in Zuffenhausen that morning. It reported a separate gathering of 250 workers from Bosch and Bosch Rexroth in Schwieberdingen in the afternoon.
The regional figures are estimates from the union and describe individual actions, not the total number of people on strike across Germany. The national bargaining round covers approximately 3.7 million employees in the metal and electrical industries; that figure is not a count of strike participants.
Pay offer and job security
IG Metall is seeking a 5% pay rise over 12 months. Its demands also include measures to protect jobs and production sites, a profit-sharing arrangement for employees at successful companies, and additional support for lower-paid workers and trainees.
Employers have proposed a one-off payment in July 2027 worth 1% of average annual gross pay under the relevant agreement, followed by a 1.3% increase in monthly pay from July 2028. The proposal would run for 26 months until the end of 2028 and allow companies in financial difficulty to postpone or potentially withhold the one-off payment.
The union has rejected the offer, arguing that the proposed increase would come too late and would leave employees worse off in real terms. It says workers are facing higher living costs and that the agreement should address the future of industrial jobs as well as pay.
Employers have pointed to the financial pressures facing manufacturers. In the northern bargaining area, employers’ negotiator Lena Ströbele said cost increases and the risk of job losses or factory closures made structural cost reductions necessary. The regional association Südwestmetall has defended the offer as balanced in a difficult economic climate.
Those arguments reflect different assessments of what companies can afford and what workers need. The union says conditions vary considerably across the industries covered, with some businesses struggling while others are performing strongly.
A series of short walkouts
The stoppages are known as warning strikes: short periods of industrial action intended to increase pressure during negotiations. They began after a period during which such strikes were barred under the existing bargaining arrangements ended at midnight on 31 October.
On Monday 2 November, employees at companies including Audi and Mercedes-Benz took part in walkouts. The union said that more than 200 workplace actions took place that day, while further protests followed in different regions.
In the northern bargaining area, IG Metall said more than 11,500 employees had participated in actions since Sunday 1 November. It called employees at 96 named workplaces to take part in further stoppages on Thursday 5 November, including at sites in Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and north-western Lower Saxony.
The northern region’s third round of negotiations is scheduled for Friday 6 November in Bremen. The union and the regional employers’ association Nordmetall bargain there for approximately 130,000 employees.
Talks are conducted separately across 15 bargaining regions. Two rounds had concluded without an agreement before the warning strikes began, and the union has said it wants negotiations to continue alongside the action.
The regional rallies illustrate the breadth of the dispute, from carmakers and engineering businesses to suppliers. They do not establish how long any individual workplace will be affected or whether the next talks will produce an agreement.
Featured image: AI-generated illustration.
