German industrial workers stage second 24-hour strike

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Industrial workers in Germany began a second day of 24-hour strikes over pay and working hours on Thursday, affecting companies including carmakers Volkswagen and Ford.

The IG Metall union has called for full-day walkouts through Friday, firing a last warning shot before it ballots for extended industrial action that could be crippling to companies reliant on a supply chain of car parts and other components.

Emboldened by the fastest economic growth in six years and record low unemployment, IG Metall, Germany's dominant metalworkers' union which is also one of Europe's largest, is demanding an 8-percent pay rise over 27 months for 3.9 million metal and engineering workers across Germany.

The union has also asked for workers to be given the right to reduce their weekly hours to 28 from 35 to care for children, elderly or sick relatives, and to be able to return to full time after two years.

/Reuters Photo

This is IG Metall’s first major push for a change in hours since workers staged seven weeks of strikes in 1984 to help secure a cut of the working week to 35 from 40 hours.

Employers have offered a 6.8-percent wage increase, but rejected the demand for shorter hours unless they can also increase workers’ hours when necessary.

Around 68,000 workers at 80 companies including truckmaker MAN and automotive supplier ZF Friedrichshafen downed their tools on Wednesday, IG Metall said.

By Friday, that number is expected to rise to around 260 companies, including Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler and Porsche.

The DIW economic institute has estimated the strikes could cost companies a total of 62 million euros a day in lost revenue, assuming around 50,000 workers, or on average 200 per company, stop working for one day each.

Source(s): Reuters