Business | Wages and inflation

Germany’s biggest trade union strikes a deal on pay

But trouble could still lie ahead

Mandatory Credit: Photo by CLEMENS BILAN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (13627429d)A participant waves a flag of German metalworkers' union IG Metall during a warning strike of the Mercedes-Benz plant employees in Berlin, Germany, 17 November 2022. German metalworkers' union IG Metall demands a payment rise of eight percent.Warning strike of German trade union IG Metall in Berlin, Germany - 17 Nov 2022

Nov 24th 2022|BERLIN

“On the whole we are pretty happy with the deal,” says Stefan Wolf, boss of Gesamtmetall, the metal-engineering industry’s employers’ association, about an agreement on pay struck on November 18th for workers in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg. IG Metall, Germany’s mightiest trade union, had asked for a hefty annual pay increase of 8%. Bosses managed to buy time by granting them an increase of 8.5% spread over two years. That deal was mirrored by Volkswagen and IG Metall when they struck a deal on November 23rd.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Hard bargains”