Metaller-KV Battle: Strikes Escalate as Negotiations Fall Apart

After seven hours of negotiations, the seventh and most recent round between the union and the Chamber of Commerce regarding this year’s wage and salary increases for approximately 200,000 employees ended without any resolution. This is the longest negotiation in the past 25 years. The two parties are at odds with the unions demanding an 11.6 percent increase to compensate for the 9.6 percent inflation, while employers have refused to agree to this demand.

Employers expressed their frustration with the negotiations, stating that they were willing to provide increases if an improvement in the framework was achieved. However, they also criticized the unions for their uncompromising approach, indicating that they had maneuvered themselves into a dead end.

The chief negotiator for PRO-GE, Reinhold Binder, mentioned that if a resolution wasn’t achieved that day, the unions would expand their combat measures. The high inflation has put a strain on employees, who are demanding fair wage and salary increases that preserve their purchasing power. On the other hand, employers argue that the industry has slipped into a recession and that they cannot fully compensate for inflation.

Specifically, the unions are planning to escalate their measures by leaving it to individual companies to decide on how they can extend their strikes. For example, large companies may consider extending strikes to multiple shifts while others may extend them to two consecutive days.