IG Metall boss Jörg Hofmann is demanding more than six percent more wages for employees in the metal and electrical industry.

"We need a strong wage increase," said Jörg Hofmann of the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" (Friday).

"The collective bargaining agreement must cover two years, 2022 and 2023. If the negotiations go well, we will have a result in November."

The demand comes about by adding the target inflation of the European Central Bank (2 percent) to the increase in productivity (1.1 percent) for two years, Hofmann explained.

However, he also considers a "redistribution component" to be imperative because the companies are currently making such high profits.

When the journalist interjected in the interview that this would add up to at least a seven percent increase in wages, Hofmann said: "Or about that... let's see."

The contracts for around 3.7 million employees in the core sectors of German industry expire at the end of September.

At nationwide meetings of the regional wage commissions last week, it became apparent that IG Metall wanted to get a significant wage increase for its members in the upcoming wage negotiations in view of the high inflation.

An exact collective bargaining demand must be confirmed by the national board of the union, according to IG Metall this should happen on July 11th.

In separate collective bargaining in the north-west German steel industry, the union is demanding, among other things, 8.2 percent more wages for the 68,000 employees.

Hofmann contradicted the view that significant wage increases could trigger a wage-price spiral.

“You can see that from the fact that we take the two percent ECB target inflation as a benchmark and not the current inflation of almost eight percent.

Because then our demand would be in double digits," he said.

The IG Metall boss also took a stand in the debate about an excess profit tax for companies that generate extra profits through inflation.

“I am in favor of skimming off the additional profits in all sectors that are earning more than the average in recent years due to the crisis.

It's not just the oil multinationals," said Hofmann.

"Chemical companies, car manufacturers and machine builders are also happy about special profits." Opinions differ among economists and in the traffic light coalition about the benefits of such an extra tax for mineral oil companies.