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To: Alex who wrote (28218)	2/14/1999 9:37:00 AM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116759

Top Financial News Sun, 14 Feb 1999, 9:33am EST IG Metall Calls for Strike Vote in Germany; Threatens Production, Economy IG Metall Calls for Strike Vote in Baden-Wuerttemberg (Update1) (Adds union asks for mediator in 4th paragraph.) Frankfurt, Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- IG Metall, Germany's largest union, effectively voted to strike in Baden- Wuerttemberg, a move that could cut production at DaimlerChrysler AG, whose headquarters are there, and threaten German economic growth. IG Metall officials decided today to call for a strike vote Feb. 22-24 of its 498,000 members in the auto, machinery, metals and electronics industries in the southwestern German state -- an important region for the auto and auto-parts industry. That's after negotiations with employers over demands for a 6.5 percent pay raise failed. The call for a vote is considered a de facto decision to strike. ''The decision to take a strike vote is because of employers' unwillingness'' to increase their offer for pay raises, said IG Metall Chairman Klaus Zwickel. The union, which represents 2.7 million workers nationwide, has said a strike wouldn't start before March 1. However, in an apparent attempt to stop things going that far, IG Metall also asked today that former German Justice Minister Hans-Jochen Vogel be named to mediate a compromise before Feb. 17. Employers had already proposed the matter be put to mediation. A strike would be the union's first since 1995, when 30,000 IG Metall metals workers in Bavaria walked out for two weeks to protest wage offers and eventually won 3.6 percent raises. Raises of a similar size this year in the metal industry would trim about 0.1 percent to 0.2 percent off German economic growth in the first quarter, making it ''roughly flat,'' said Stephan Monissen, an economist at Salomon Smith Barney. An extended strike is still possible, economists said, although pressure from industry and the government may produce a last-minute compromise that could avert a costly walkout. ''Chances for a strike are 60 to 40,'' said Markus Schulte, an economist at Stone & McCarthy in London, before today's decision. ''A prolonged strike would cause immense problems in the labor market.'' The union demand for a wage increase is the largest since 1991. Employers have offered 2.3 percent increases plus a 0.5 percent bonus tied to corporate profits. The union, which is against tying wages to profits, has been holding one-day work stoppages at factories since Jan. 29. An IG Metall strike could encourage other German unions to strike, boosting costs in one of the world's most expensive countries to do business. Public sector unions OeTV and DAG, which are negotiating with the government over pay raises for about 3.2 million public employees, said they ''can't rule out'' also calling strikes to put pressures on their employers. IG Metall said it's targeting carmakers and car-parts makers in its strike in Baden-Wuerttemberg. Volkswagen AG's Audi unit and Porsche AG as well as ChryslerDaimler have production facilities in the state as well as car-parts maker Robert Bosch GmBH. A prolonged strike, if it spread nationwide, would affect Siemens AG, Germany's largest electronics company, too. It would be as unwelcome to workers as it is to employers. IG Metall workers who have paid 1 percent of their monthly gross income, or an average 45 deutsche marks ($26), to the union for five straight years, receive about 630 marks per week from the union during a strike. Members will receive no compensation for the warning strike they've already staged. A strike must be voted by 75 percent of IG Metall members. However, once union officials call for a strike, members usually vote for the strike. Whatever the outcome, it will 3.4 million workers in the industry nationwide, including non-union workers. There are 850,000 workers in the industry in Baden-Wuerttemberg. bloomberg.com