The wage dispute in the metal and electrical industry in Baden-Württemberg has been settled. The employers' association Südwestmetall and IG Metall agreed on a 24-month agreement at the end of November. In addition to an inflation compensation bonus of €3,000, divided into two tranches of €1,500 each with payment by March 1, 2023 and March 1, 2024, it also provides for two wage increases of 5.2% and 3.3% from May 1, 2024. The parties to the collective agreement have agreed on a process that ensures that they can react quickly and flexibly to a possible energy emergency during the term of the agreement.
"In view of the extremely difficult economic situation, this compromise is absolutely at the limit of what we consider acceptable for the majority of our members," says Dr. Harald Marquardt, lead negotiator on the employers' side: "It is only acceptable to us because it also contains relief options for companies in a difficult situation as well as provisions in the event of an energy emergency." According to Marquardt, the employers had also agreed to the result in order to prevent industrial action: "IG Metall had held out the prospect of this in the event of failure, and it would have led to major damage and uncertainty."
As in the last collective agreement, there is an automatic differentiation in the additional pay. The additional pay will be increased from the current level of around 400 to 600 euros. If the net return on sales is below 2.3%, it can be postponed, reduced or canceled in both 2023 and 2024. "Above all, employers can control in which calendar year they want to pay out the inflation compensation bonus," says Marquardt: "This gives us a great deal of leverage in terms of the variability of costs and takes account of the different economic circumstances."
