World Business Briefing | Europe: Germany: Union Sets Wage Target
The German trade union IG Metall said that it would demand a pay increase of 6.5 percent in wage talks expected to begin soon, setting the stage for a clash with employers. ?The metal and engineering industries can easily cope with and finance an increase of 6.5 percent,? IG Metall?s head, J rgen Peters, left, said in a statement issued after a union board meeting. ?It?s the employers? turn in 2007.? Mr. Peters said IG Metall was expecting productivity gains of 1.8 percent for the economy as a whole and inflation of 2.3 percent this year, matching the government estimate. Productivity in the engineering and metal industries, however, was expected to rise more strongly, by 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent. Dieter Hundt, head of the Confederation of German Employers? Associations, said in a statement that a 6.5 percent wage increase would hurt the economy and undermine recovery of the sector, which led to the creation of 30,000 jobs last year.