Germany’s labor union gets a 8.5% increase in wages as a means of fighting inflation

The largest labor union in Germany managed to reach an agreement with employers on two rounds of wage increases in industrial enterprises. These measures were established to offset the threat of workers’ strikes.

On Friday, the IG Metall union announced a 5.2% wage increase in 2023 and 3.3% increase in 2024. Besides that, employees are entitled to receive non-taxable bonus payments of 3,000 euro, or $3110. The supplements will be given to almost 4 million industrial workers in Germany. Supposedly, these payments will help them to cope with inflationary pressures and compensate for rapid growth of cost of living.

The IG Metall union's negotiations with the Gesamtmetall employers' association focused a lot of attention, as companies were quite reluctant to raise wages because of rising prices for raw materials, natural gas and electricity. In addition, there were fears that wage increases might cause another rise in inflation and worsen the country's already difficult economic situation.