German Metalworkers Union OKs Pact

Germany’s biggest labor union agreed to a wage contract early today calling for a 3.6% pay increase, averting a strike in the powerful metal industry. After dozens of rounds of talks, IG Metall Union accepted the 3.6% hike. The new contract expires in a year. The union had been asking for 6.5%, saying workers deserve a share of the increased profits many companies reported last year. The metalworkers threatened to strike if an agreement was not reached by midnight Wednesday but extended that deadline by two hours. A strike by the 3.4-million-member union would have affected more than 7,000 German companies, including DaimlerChrysler, Volkswagen and the General Motors and Ford subsidiaries in Germany. Metalworker labor pacts frequently set precedents for talks in other German industries.