March 31, 2006
Berlin, Germany - Car assembly at two major DaimlerChrysler and BMW plants in Germany stopped for several hours on Thursday morning as workers attended rallies to demand more pay.
It was the second day of rolling strikes at German engineering companies called by the main industrial union, IG Metall.
The union is shutting down engineering businesses all over Germany for a few hours at a time as it presses a claim for a five-percent pay increase.
It said 50 000 unionised workers would stop work for parts of the day in two southern German states alone.
DaimlerChrysler lines at Sindelfingen, near Stuttgart, were stopped with the main BMW plant at Dingolfing near Munich
Engineering businesses all over Germany are being shut down for a few hours at a time
.
About 12 000 strikers attended a rally outside the DaimlerChrysler plant. The union said enough workers walked off the job at BMW to halt production at Dingolfing as well as at a BMW components plant in Landshut.
The employers have not made a formal offer but have indicated that an increase of 1.2 percent would be reasonable in view of the high labour costs in Germany.
IG Metall, which claims to represent 2.4-million workers, has threatened to a full-scale strike in April if no agreement is reached. - Sapa-DPA
