At the start of the nationwide collective bargaining round in the metal and electrical industry, employees and employers once again made their very different positions clear, and there are now signs of complicated and lengthy negotiations. The Lower Saxony IG Metall district leader Thorsten Gröger reiterated the wage demand of the union on Monday shortly before the start of the talks in Hanover: “Eight percent, that’s feasible, and that fits in with the times.” The head of the Lower Saxony Metal Association, Volker Schmidt, countered that such wage increases would endanger the existence of many companies in view of escalating energy and raw material costs. In the course of the afternoon, both sides wanted to withdraw for the first round of their deliberations. This time, the region of Lower Saxony/Saxony-Anhalt is kicking off the metal collective bargaining round.
IG Metall – Eight percent, it stays that way – economy
