aircraft builder
Airbus is again negotiating with IG Metall about the restructuring of the group
Members of IG Metall are standing in front of an Airbus factory gate in Hamburg-Finkenwerder. Photo: Bodo Marks/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Airbus wants to take off again this year. A labor dispute would not be convenient for the aircraft manufacturer.
In the conflict over the restructuring of civil aircraft production in Germany, Airbus and IG Metall started negotiations again on Monday.
If this seventh round of negotiations in Hamburg also fails to produce a result, the union wants to call on its members to hold a ballot on a strike. Most recently, at the beginning of December, more than 14,000 employees took part in warning strikes, some of which lasted several days, and production was largely paralyzed in the middle of the year-end sprint. The outcome and duration of the talks are open. From negotiating circles it was said that results could possibly only be announced on Tuesday.
The chief negotiator and northern German district manager of IG Metall, Daniel Friedrich, had previously written to the workforce in a leaflet that the last round of negotiations on January 14 had brought initial progress. In his words, Monday must show “how reliable the previous talks are at the end of the day”. Airbus does not want to comment on the status of the negotiations.
The world’s leading manufacturer of commercial aircraft wants to combine the assembly of aircraft fuselages and structures in a new subsidiary. The Airbus works in Stade, parts of the Hamburg location and the Airbus subsidiary Premium Aerotec with three of the four Augsburg plants and the locations in Bremen and Nordenham would be affected. In addition, the aircraft manufacturer wants to sell the parts production at Premium Aerotec in Augsburg, in Varel in Friesland and in Romania to an investor. The original plan to implement the conversion at the beginning of 2022 was postponed due to resistance from IG Metall and the workforce.