The third round of collective bargaining for the metal and electrical industries in North Rhine-Westphalia ended without progress on Monday. IG Metall NRW said around 55,000 employees at 633 companies had taken part in warning strikes since the no-strike period ended on 1 November. About 2,000 workers at 23 companies stopped work on 9 November alone.
The union is seeking a five per cent pay rise over 12 months. Its demands also include a social component, a profit-sharing arrangement at financially strong companies, and binding commitments to protect jobs and industrial sites.
The employers’ current offer consists of a one-off payment in July 2027 equal to one per cent of average annual collectively agreed gross pay, followed by a 1.3 per cent increase in pay scales from July 2028. The proposed agreement would run for 26 months, until 31 December 2028.
A further point of dispute is a proposed company-level instrument to support investment, innovation, employment and industrial locations. METALL NRW said employers were prepared to negotiate concrete and binding agreements, but that procedures, criteria and individual measures still required discussion.
METALL NRW president Arndt G. Kirchhoff warned against further escalation of the warning strikes and rejected the union’s five per cent pay demand, citing the industry’s difficult economic conditions. IG Metall, for its part, says it is considering its next steps after the talks ended without agreement.
The negotiations cover around 640,000 workers in North Rhine-Westphalia. Their outcome also matters to people of Turkish origin working in the state’s automotive and metal-supply industries, where pay levels and long-term job security remain central concerns.
