IG Metall launches warning strikes across Germany's metal and electrical industry

Warning strikes start after midnight

IG Metall began its warning strikes in Germany's metal and electrical industry shortly after midnight on 1 November 2026, when the peace obligation (Friedenspflicht) ran out. The pay round covers about 3.7 million employees nationwide, and the union plans to widen the action across the country in the week of 2 November 2026. At KSM Castings, an automotive supplier in Hildesheim, around 300 workers gathered for a rally where IG Metall gave the start signal for work stoppages. At Thyssenkrupp Rasselstein in Andernach, Rhineland-Palatinate, the night shift stopped work for a limited time, and about 300 employees protested at the factory gate. A further action began overnight at the mobile-communications supplier RF 360 Europe/Qualcomm in Munich.

What the union wants and what employers offered

IG Metall is demanding 5 percent more pay on a 12-month term, and it also wants job and site security. According to stern.de, the union additionally seeks a social component for lower pay groups and a profit share in economically successful companies. The employers' offer, tabled in the second negotiating round, includes a one-off payment of 1 percent of average annual tariff gross pay in July 2027 and a permanent 1.3 percent rise from July 2028, with the contract running until the end of 2028. According to N-tv, employers put forward a coordinated offer for the first time in tariff history across five bargaining districts at once, and the round ended without agreement. The offer sits below inflation, which employers justified by the difficult economic situation and high cost burdens for industry in Germany. IG Metall executive board member André Arenz called it a 'minus offer with real wage losses'.

“Renunciation saves no employee, no site, and certainly not the economy.”

IG Metall demand (12-month term)5%

Employer offer (rise from July 2028)1.3%

IG Metall demand (12-month term)

5 %

Employer offer (rise from July 2028)

1.3 %

Data from the article text

Lower Saxony and separate talks

In Lower Saxony, IG Metall district leader Thorsten Gröger said in a statement that the production lines would stop wherever necessary from the first day of action. He accused the employers of trying to put off the workforce with small percentages.

“The employers tried at the negotiating table to fob the workforce off with mini-percentages.”

The union's Hannover district office is responsible for two bargaining areas with about 120,000 employees, namely Lower Saxony and Osnabrück-Emsland-Grafschaft Bentheim. Talks in those areas are held separately from other regions. The same N-tv report notes that negotiations for Volkswagen staff are also conducted separately.

Escalation next week

Christiane Benner, the IG Metall chair, had announced strong warning strikes because the employers' offer had triggered understanding and anger in the workplaces. JörgKöhlinger, head of the IG Metall Mitte district, spoke to strikers in Andernach and described the midnight action there as the opening of a much larger campaign.

“The midnight warning strike at Thyssenkrupp Rasselstein is only the start of a massive phase of warning strikes.”

The union's next step is to extend the protests across the whole federal territory in the coming week, as Handelsblatt and Focus both report.