Major German union warns of strike

German metal workers have warned of a major strike, if an agreement is not reached in a wage dispute, the country’s powerful union IG Metall reports.

IG Metall with more than 2.2 million members said on Sunday that metal workers will vote on the strike action if no agreement is reached by the end of the week.

“The IG Metall wants a quick deal, but on fair terms,” the union’s deputy leader Detlef Wetzel said.

If no agreement is reached this week, “we will go to the ballot…,” he added.

IG Metall demands a 5.5-percent increase in salaries in 2013 for over 3.5 million metal workers of different branches that range from automobiles to electronics.

Almost 400,000 workers have held shorter “warning strikes” in recent days, hitting big German companies including BMW, Siemens and Bosch.

Short warning strikes are a frequently used labor tactic in Germany to put pressure on the employers.

On March 21, workers at Germanyâ„¢s largest airline, Lufthansa, staged a one-day strike over pay and working conditions.

Hundreds of flights were also canceled at the airport in Dusseldorf and Hamburg on February 14, after security staff walked their jobs off in protest at low payments.

Meanwhile, German business daily Handelsblatt said on May 2 that Europeâ„¢s biggest economy expects weak economic growth of just 0.2 percent for the first quarter of 2013.

Germanyâ„¢s economic growth declined to 0.7 percent in 2012 from 3.0 percent registered in 2011 as the country started to feel the pinch of the eurozone debt crisis, which has severely affected the European Union since 2009.

Major research institutes in Germany have predicted a 0.7-percent economic growth for the country in the second quarter of 2013. However, the Munich-based Ifo economic research institute said on April 24 that business confidence in Germany has decreased since the countryâ„¢s Business Climate Index dropped to 104.4 points in April from 106.7 points in March.

PG/PR