In the negotiations over wage increases and shortened working hours in the northwest German steel industry, the IG Metall union and the employers agreed on a new collective agreement on Saturday night. Working time regulations for the upcoming conversion towards climate neutrality were agreed for the first time.
What does the new collective agreement say and who benefits from it? The most important questions and answers.
The union entered the negotiations demanding wage increases and a 32-hour week with full wage compensation, which the employers rejected as unfeasible. At the beginning of December, against the background of stalled collective bargaining, the first warning strikes took place in the northwest German steel industry.
The new collective agreement provides for an inflation compensation bonus totaling 3,000 euros in two steps as well as an increase in wages and salaries by 5.5 percent from January 1, 2025, as IG Metall announced in Düsseldorf. Furthermore, in order to secure employment, regular working hours can be collectively reduced from 35 to up to 32 hours, for which employees will sometimes receive wage compensation. The agreement also provides for the possibility of reducing individual working hours to 33.6 hours.
The agreement also provides for regulations for companies or parts of companies in which the transformation creates “pressure on employment”. Then, based on the standard working time of 35 hours applicable in the industry, the working time can be reduced by three hours to 32 hours. IG Metall was unable to enforce its demand for full wage compensation, but was able to achieve payment for 33 hours. Only those who are 60 years of age and older and work shifts will be paid for 34.1 hours from 2025. This age limit is to be lowered by one year in each of the following two years. The collective bargaining parties want to evaluate the regulation in 2027.
The collective agreement also provides for regulations in the event of additional requirements, for example due to the temporary parallel operation of old and new technologies. The working hours can then be increased by up to three hours. The current regulation on overtime pay will then be applied.
The compensation bonus will be paid in stages: there will be 1,500 euros in January, then 150 euros in each month from February to November. Trainees receive a total of 1,800 euros, also on a staggered basis. After the salary increase from January 2025, the collective wage agreement runs until September 30, 2025.
IG Metall negotiator Knut Giesler expressed satisfaction with the result. An important goal had been achieved. “We give employees security during the transformation. If there is pressure on employment, the remaining work can be distributed across several shoulders by reducing working hours with partial pay compensation.” If there is an individual desire to shorten working hours, a start has been made.
The new collective agreement is “future-oriented for the steel industry,” explained IG Metall board member Nadine Boguslawski. “The options for reducing working hours with compensation are a role model,” she emphasized. The short full-time with salary compensation relieves the burden on older employees, and the possibility of a financed 32-hour week also makes “employment more secure in times of change in the industry”.
Employers also rated the regulations as “very positive”. Reiner Blaschek, chairman of the steel employers’ association, emphasized that, together with IG Metall, we succeeded in creating a tailor-made regulation for working hours and securing employment during the ecological transformation. The regulation on individual working hours gives employees more flexibility. “It was important to us that, as a rule, no wage compensation is paid for this.”
However, there is skepticism about the pay: “The agreed pay increase puts a maximum strain on the companies’ options given the rapidly deteriorating conditions for the German steel industry,” says Blaschek. Giesler, who is also the district manager of IG Metall North Rhine-Westphalia, spoke of a “sustainable increase in income”.
No. IG Metall North Rhine-Westphalia conducts collective bargaining for the steel and iron industries in the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Bremen and Lower Saxony. Around 68,000 people are employed there. Negotiations are taking place separately for the East German steel industry and the employees in Saarland. The peace obligation ends there at the end of February. In addition to Saarland, the tariff area also includes two plants in Wetzlar (Hesse) and Kehl (Baden-Württemberg).
Around 68,000 people are employed in the steel and iron industry in North Rhine-Westphalia, Bremen and Lower Saxony. In the East German steel industry with around 8,000 employees, the fifth round of negotiations is scheduled for December 18th.
