The German metalworkers union IG Metall is to call a strike vote over demands for a 6.5 per cent salary rise, the union's leader, Mr Klaus Zwickel, said yesterday
Addressing a news conference, Mr Zwickel held out the possibility of mediation with the Gesamtmetall industry management federation, but set a deadline of midnight on February 17th. He added that workers in the Baden-Wuerttemberg region would be asked to vote in a strike referendum February 22nd-24th.
Gesamtmetall has offered the 3.4 million employees in Germany's metalworking, electrical and engineering sectors a 2.3 per cent pay increase, plus a 0.5 per cent one-off payment for companies that can afford it.
Mr Zwickel, who is demanding 6.5 per cent, yesterday dismissed the offer as "provocation". The head of the owners' federation, Mr Werner Stumpfe, said yesterday that the employers would be prepared to improve their offer under certain conditions.
"Our proposal to bring in a mediator is not just tactics, but a clear offer of compromise which we are seriously considering," Mr Stumpfe said, ahead of a meeting of IG Metall's leaders.
The union has proposed that former Social Democrat justice minister Mr Hans-Jochen Vogel should chair the mediation panel.
Gesamtmetall put forward another name, but sources close to the owners' side indicated they could be prepared to accept the union's choice.
The Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroeder, on Friday sent a letter to both sides warning of the possible consequences of an open conflict in the current unstable economic situation.
IG Metall members have taken part in work stoppages across the country in the past few days.
Mr Klaus Fritsche, who has headed the employers' camp in wage negotiations in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, told Welt am Sonntag any new talks had to be quick, clear and un-bureaucratic but not rushed.
"Even an excellent mediator would not be able to do in five hours what we haven't been able to achieve in five long negotiation rounds," Mr Fritsche said.
Economists have voiced fears that wide-scale strikes could wreck Mr Schroeder's round-table Alliance for Jobs project, which aims to involve both employers and unions in efforts to cut the double digit unemployment rate.
The head of a key business lobby, the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHT), said in a newspaper interview that IG Metall was putting the Alliance for Jobs project at risk and was not really serious about new talks.
"Obviously IG Metall doesn't want any mediated talks but rather to have a strike as soon as possible," the DIHT head, Mr Hans-Peter Stihl, told the Magdeburger Volksstimme, adding that the employers would not improve their wage offer.
