Porsche and Mercedes production lines stopped yesterday as thousands of German workers downed tools and took to the picket lines in their first strike in seven years.
Nearly 50,000 engineering and automotive workers in the southern state of Baden-Württemberg donned red "strike" vests and picketed 21 factories, demanding a 6.5 per cent pay rise. "We are not striking against anyone in particular, we are striking until we get what we want," said Mr Klaus Zwickel, president of the IG Metall union, representing 2.7 million workers.
The stoppage began at 10 p.m. on Sunday when 2,000 Daimler-Chrysler workers failed to show for the night shift. By yesterday evening, the firm was around 2,800 Mercedes-Benz behind schedule. Striking Audi workers prevented the assembly of around 1,000 cars yesterday.
The 2,000 workers at the Porsche factory in Zuffenhausen would normally turn out 150 luxury sports cars a day. But yesterday they walked off the job and gathered on "Porsche Plaza" in front of the factory.
The mood was upbeat and a group of workers danced a conga. "Since January with the introduction of the euro alone, so many things have gotten more expensive so I think our pay demand is justified," one worker said.
The Southwest Metal employers group said a new round of talks was likely in the next two weeks, "when the gunsmoke has cleared". Negotiator Mr Ottmar Zweibelhoff said: "But there is no new offer. We are not able to leave veer from our line."
IG Metall called the strike after its pay demand of 4 per cent was met with an employer offer of 3.3 per cent over 13 months and €190 over two months.
Union leaders called the offer "a provocation", balloted members for strike action and returned to their original demand of 6.5 per cent. The stoppage was the first test of IG Metall's "flexi-strike" plan, calling lightning strikes for a day before moving on.
The union hopes the strategy will cause maximum disruption with the minimum risk of lock-outs. It said yesterday's action cost DaimlerChrysler up to €40 million in lost output and Porsche €10 million.
A further 20,000 workers at 21 different factories will strike today and the union plans further strikes this week at another 60 companies, including several in Berlin.
German economists have warned that the union's pay demands pose a threat to its tentative economic recovery.
They say the biggest risk is not lost output but the knock-on effect in other sectors that could lead the European Central Bank to raise interest rates.
Strike threats in the construction sector eased after leaders of the IG Bau union decided to call in a mediator rather than end deadlocked pay talks.
