From Germany: On the IG Metall Agreement

After several «warning» strikes that began on January 4 at the Porsche plant in Zuffenhausen and culminated with the proclamation of the 24-hour strike involving more than 250,000 workers from more than 250 production plants, on the night between 5 and 6 February, following a long «negotiation», an agreement was signed between IG Metall, the largest union of German metallurgists and the employers’ association Sudwestmetall. The new collective agreement, which will last until 31 March 2020, covers 900 thousand metalworkers in the state of Baden-Württemberg and is considered as a pilot agreement for the entire sector and its perspective should be extended to all 3.9 million workers within this category in the whole of Germany.

The Italian bourgeois press has given prominence to this agreement, presenting it as a great victory for the workers in the sector. The headline given to this topic in the Italian daily, «Il Fatto Quotidiano» of 8 February is emblematic: «Metalworkers, in Germany the working class wins. And the others?»

The editor, like his colleagues in other publications, exalts the agreement by reporting the 4.3% wage increase and the right, for older employees, to reduce their working week to 28 hours for a maximum period of 24 months. The article reports data on the unemployment rate according to which it fell from 10.5% in 2003 to 5.1% today, while the absolute number of the unemployed has decreased from 4.4 million to 2.57 in the same period. By contrast the number of people employed rose by 11.4%. It seems appropriate to refer to some parts of the article in full as it highlights some data on the workforce in Germany and allows us to understand who would be the «others» mentioned in the title.

…»Behind the numbers, however, there is a very different and composite reality, as Ver.di union, the other large German trade union, that of services industries, did not fail to emphasize. In fact, compared to an 11.4% increase in employment between 2003 and 2016, the hours worked rose only by 6.36%, is deduced (government agency for research on the labor market). So they are more employees, but they work for fewer hours and with fewer guarantees, very often in mini-jobs paying 450 euros a month, and with highly reduced social charges for the employer. (on this see also the note appearing in number 361 of our newspaper)

In 2000, permanent workers accounted for 63.4% of the German workforce. In 2016, this has fallen to 55%. In the meantime, the percentage of fixed-term contracts and temporary work has increased: today more than a third of German workers are hired with atypical contracts, as highlighted by the analysis «Stability through strong domestic demand» (in German, «Stabilität durch starke Binnennachfrage»), published by the Ver.di union in February 2017. We are facing a deeply divided society, both at the regional level and at the level of industrial sectors.

Those who live in the south of Germany and work in the metalworking sector (and more generally in the industrial sector) have seen their standard of living improve in the last years, while for service workers (logistics, canteens, cleaners, etc.) work has become increasingly precarious and the risk of poverty has increased. The percentage of Germans at risk of poverty has risen on average from 11% to 16% in the last twenty years, but in some sectors the risk is much higher. As for example in the retail trade, where the percentage of workers remunerated on the basis of a collective agreement negotiated with the unions fell from 41% in 2010 to 30% in 2014. The progressive exit of companies from collective agreements for commercial workers is leading to lower and lower wages in a sector that employs over five million people, most of them women…»

Those who, for the naive journalist would be the «others» are nothing more than an integral part of the working class for communists. Certainly, a part of the proletariat that has to deal with the most unfavorable economic conditions, with more precarious jobs and more easily blackmailed, but still class brothers whose defense is really promoted by the solidarity of those who would be «better».

Let’s therefore turn to who would have won.

From a wages point of view, the February 2015 agreement, signed in the same state of Baden-Württemberg, prior to the one just signed, provided for a 3.4% increase in wages while the current one foresees a percentage equal to 4.3%. According to Eurostat, the consumer price index was 0.1% in 2015, 0.4% in 2016 and 1.7% in 2017; while, according to the IFO Institut of Munich, consumer prices will increase by 1.9% in 2018 and by 2.2% in 2019. If these forecasts prove to be correct, it is quite clear that the current increase is even lower than the previous one, so we are talking about the maximum of a recovery of inflation in spite of all the bourgeois propaganda that passes off this agreement as a victory. The demand from IG Metall, which let us remember is a trade union that is also financially tied to the interests of the German economy, was an increase of 6% over 12 months while the agreement provides for 4.3% from April 1, so for a total 27 months. For the months from January to March 2018, a one-off payment of € 100 (and € 70 for apprentices) will be paid. A fixed amount of € 400, € 200 for apprentices, is to be paid, to which a variable part equal to 27.5% of the monthly salary will be paid before July 2019, this being at the discretion of companies, which can repeal it in the event of a fall in work volume.

Also, with regard to the weekly working time of 28 hours, also touted as a victory, not all that glitters is gold. The agreement provides for the possibility to shorten working hours for periods from six to twenty-four months for the care of elderly relatives or children. However, if there is no substitute for a worker with key qualifications during the relevant period, the employer may reject the request. Secondly, requests can be refused because of peaks of work exceeding 10%.

This reduction in time, which is not with equal pay, also has as a quid pro quo that the employer can increase working hours from 35 hours to 40 hours for up to 50% of the workforce. A new acceleration to flexibility without business costs, or with even lower business costs, as workers who work 35/40 hours a week will also produce for those who will benefit from the 28 hours.

We can only conclude that this is yet another agreement where the workers lose, and that the only victory that the proletariat can rejoice at is with its complete emancipation from the regime of wage labor!