FRANKFURT, Germany -- Germany's biggest industrial union said Wednesday it will expand its strike action to the eastern part of the country next week even as walkouts in the southwestern manufacturing heartland went into their third day.þþThe 2.7-million member IG Metall union, which launched rolling, one-day strikes in southern Baden-Wuerttemberg state Monday, already is planning a second week of stoppages there. Spokesman Claus Eilrich said strikes would also start in the eastern Berlin-Brandenburg region, where members have given overwhelming support to a walkout.þþIG Metall said some 13,000 workers struck Wednesday in 33 mostly medium-sized companies in Baden-Wuerttemberg after stopping production earlier this week at major automakers and electrical goods manufacturers.þþMachine tool maker Index Group, based in Esslingen, and industrial group Voith, in Heidenheim, were among firms being targeted. Small and midsize firms account for the bulk of the country's jobs.þþChancellor Gerhard Schroeder urged the union and employers to resume wage talks broken off last month. Speaking at the opening of a new BMW plant in Leipzig, he expressed his ``urgent wish'' for a resumption as soon as possible.þþEconomists say a long strike, or a high wage settlement, could fuel unemployment and inflation just as Europe's largest economy emerges from recession, though one lasting only two weeks or so would not do lasting harm.þþWage talks collapsed when the union rejected the employers' offer of 3.3 percent for 15 months, holding out for 4 percent for one year.þþThe union initially demanded 6.5 percent. In an interview Wednesday with the Hanover-based Neue Presse daily, union official Juergen Peters insisted workers should get raises of between 4 percent and 4.5 percent.þþThe union, which has over 800,000 members in the region, says it's trying to minimize economic harm with a new ``flexible strike'' tact, stopping work for one day at targeted companies. The union says this minimizes job losses and prevents layoffs at other plants for lack of parts or orders.þþA settlement in Baden-Wuerttemberg is expected to set the pattern nationwide.þ
Source: NY Times
