IG Metall Pay Talks 2026: Germany's Metalworkers Reject Offer, Warning Strikes From November 1

A 5% pay rise over a 12-month term, with extra weight on the lowest pay grades, plus a collective agreement to protect jobs and sites and, for the first time, profit-sharing in companies doing well. The union's bargaining commissions and executive board adopted the demand on September 22-23, 2026; chair Christiane Benner described the approach as "combative realism". Source: IG Metall.

On October 27, 2026, employers in five bargaining regions tabled a coordinated first offer: a one-off payment of 1% of annual gross pay in July 2027, only in sufficiently profitable firms (it can be postponed or cancelled if net return on sales is below 2.3%), then a permanent 1.3% increase from July 2028, with a contract running 26 months, to the end of 2028. It is tied to a company-level tool for investment, sites and jobs. Sources: dpa, Handelsblatt, Stuttgarter Zeitung.

No. North Rhine-Westphalia district leader Knut Giesler called it too late, too low, too long and offering little future, and the Lower Saxony district leader spoke of a "massive pay cut round". IG Metall says the offer is well below inflation. Sources: dpa, IG Metall.

From midnight on Sunday, November 1, 2026. The pay agreements expire on October 31 and the peace obligation ends at midnight; no extension was agreed. Under German rules, these first actions are warning strikes, short stoppages during ongoing talks, which the union has announced after rejecting the offer. Specific dates and plants are set by its regional districts. Sources: IG Metall, Stuttgarter Zeitung, dpa.

The next talks are expected in the second week of November. Bargaining takes place region by region; it opened on October 7 in Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia. Sources: dpa, IG Metall.

More than 3.7 million employees in Germany's metal and electrical industry, from carmakers and suppliers to machinery and electrical engineering. It is the country's largest pay round of the year. Source: IG Metall.

No. Volkswagen has its own company agreement outside the industry-wide contract. VW has terminated a number of its collective agreements, and IG Metall is also demanding 5% there, but those talks are separate. Sources: IG Metall, DGB.

Employers point to falling output, job cuts and weak international competitiveness, with the industry in its third year of recession according to dpa. The union counters that many plants are running at good capacity, notably in aerospace, defence, shipbuilding and energy, while the car industry is struggling, and wants to protect purchasing power. The contract length also divides them: 12 months versus 26. Sources: dpa, IG Metall, produktion.de.

IG Metall (Industriegewerkschaft Metall) is the German metalworkers' union, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, and one of the largest trade unions in Germany, part of the DGB confederation. It represents workers in the metal and electrical industry, steel, auto trades, textiles and other sectors. Its chair is Christiane Benner, the first woman to lead the union. Sources: IG Metall, DGB.