German yards hit by strike warning

German shipbuilders Thyssen Nordseewerke and Cassens-Werft were hit by a temporary halt to operations this morning as the impasse in wage bargaining talks for metalworking and engineering industries made itself felt. Trade union IG Metall called more than 1,000 workers out on a warning strike to back its demand for a 6.5% wage increase. Work has now resumed but further industrial action remains on the cards as employers’ group Gesamtmetall is only prepared for a 3% increase. “If we don’t get a substantial increase to this offer, we will be heading straight into a strike,” warned Karl-Heinz Benner, head of the shop stewards’ committee at Nordseewerke Emden. The chairman of the yard’s works council, Fritz Niemeier, said: “We are working to capacity and against high-pressure deadlines, so any walkout has a tremendous impact.”