German strike for arbitration

Press, 20 June 1984, Page 10

German strike for arbitration

NZPA-Reuter Bonn West Germany’s striking metalworkers and their employers are taking their five-week dispute over shorter working hours to arbitration and talks are expected this week. A wave of strikes, lockouts, and lay-offs has paralysed the motor industry, making nearly 450,000 workers idle, and direct negotiations broke down

last week. The 2.5-million-strong LG. Metall union cleared the path for arbitration yesterday by accepting an employers’ condition that an eight-member panel must make decisions unanimously, not by majority vote. The arbitration panel of three members from each side and two neutral ones has eight days to complete its work. Employers and union then have six days to

react. A former Social Democratic Party Minister and former trade union leader, Georg Leber, will head the panel, the two sides have agreed. Employers stepped up their campaign of lock-outs to combat the strikes yesterday. About 30,000 workers were sent home and 10,000 more were due to be locked out today, bringingthetotallockedouttoabout

130,000. LG. Metall wants to cut the 40-hour week to 35 hours to reduce unemployment from 8.6 per cent, but employers say that they cannot afford that. The metalworkers have been backed by printers, who have hit newspaper production with intermittent strikes. The 1.2-million-strong public service union said yesterday that it was ready to join the fight.