In the collective bargaining dispute in the German construction industry, the union is increasing the pressure on employers shortly before the end of the peace obligation. The employers’ side still has until Friday to accept the arbitrator’s decision from mid-April – otherwise there will be a labor dispute, announced the federal chairman of the Construction-Agrar-Environment Industrial Union (IG BAU), Robert Feiger, on Wednesday in Bremen. “Then there will be a strike! Then we’ll get down to business,” he said, according to the announcement, at a DGB rally on May 1st in Bremen.
IG BAU sees the fact that the Bavarian construction industry accepted the arbitrator’s decision on Tuesday as a positive signal. “We want to build, not argue and certainly not strike,” said the managing director of the Bavarian Construction Industry Association, Thomas Schmid, in justifying the approval. The agreement means “a significant increase in costs”, but rewards the skills and performance of the employees.
After three unsuccessful rounds of negotiations, the arbitrator Rainer Schlegel proposed two-stage wage increases on April 19th. Initially, incomes were to increase by a flat rate of 250 euros in May and eleven months later by another 4.15 percent in the west and 4.95 percent in the east. IG BAU accepted the compromise last week. The negotiating commission of the nationwide employers’ associations, however, had already spoken out against accepting the regulations immediately after the arbitration talks.
According to the union, the deadline for submitting a declaration is Friday, May 3, at 2 p.m. If the employers do not accept the demand by then, the union will no longer feel bound by it, announced Feiger. The strike will then be held again for the original demand of 500 euros more per month. He called on his members: “Heat up your companies and mobilize all colleagues. Let’s shut down the companies and construction sites if the construction companies don’t want it any other way.” Around 930,000 people are employed in the German construction industry.
