In the collective bargaining for employees in the metal and electrical industry, the employers' associations have now submitted an offer.
The IG Metall trade union was offered an inflation compensation bonus totaling 3,000 euros to be paid to the 380,000 employees in Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, said Oliver Barta, the chief negotiator on the employers' side.
IG Metall negotiator Jörg Köhlinger called the offer "alms for tactical reasons".
He immediately announced warning strikes.
The union has demanded a wage increase of eight percent over a period of twelve months.
Falk Heunemann
Business editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.
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The federal government recently introduced the inflation compensation premium to enable salary increases in times of high inflation without putting too much financial strain on companies.
They do not have to pay any taxes or social security contributions for the premium.
This means that the bonus is cheaper for them than a normal salary increase, which also has a permanent effect.
In the chemical industry, the collective bargaining partners had already agreed on the bonus payment, but combined with a two-stage salary increase totaling 6.5 percent.
It is true that a table increase is also conceivable in the metal and electrical industry, said Barta.
The condition for this, however, is a term of the collective agreement of 30 months.
He did not name a specific amount.
In the next twelve months there will be no growth that can be distributed, the employers' representative argued.
Growth can be expected again in 2024 at the earliest.
"The current collective bargaining round must also take this situation into account," said Barta.
The next round of negotiations is on November 10th.
IG Metall and the employers' associations are negotiating in several regions, including the Central region, which includes Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, with a total of 380,000 employees in 1,400 companies.