- Title: GERMANY: GERMAN WORKERS STAGE STRIKES AGAINST CUTS IN SICK PAY.
- Date: 24th October 1996
- Summary: NECKARSULM (NEAR STUTTGART), BERLIN, BREMEN, GERMANY (OCTOBER 24, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) NECKARSULM, GERMANY 1. GV/MV: IG METALL WORKERS MARCHING WITH BANNERS IN FRONT OF AUDI FACTORY (2 SHOTS) 0.13 2. GV/ZOOM: WORKERS GATHERED FOR RALLY, IG METALL BANNERS, AUDI LOGO ON BUILDING 0.20 3. GV/MV: WORKERS ADDRESSED AT RALLY/ APPLAUSE (4 SHOTS) 0.42 BERLIN, GERMANY 4. LV: STRIKERS GATHERED OUTSIDE DAIMLER-BENZ MERCEDES PLANT 0.47 5. MV/GV: WORKERS GATHER AT RALLY, PLAYING DRUMS (2 SHOTS) 0.54 7. GV: VARIOUS BANNERS (3 SHOTS) 1.09 8. GV: WORKER HOLGER REIMER ADDRESSING RALLY (GERMAN)/ WORKERS LISTENING (2 SHOTS) 1.22 BREMEN, GERMANY 9. LV/PAN: MERCEDES BENZ PLANT 1.29 10. MV: MERCEDES BENZ LOGO ON BUILDING 1.33 11. GV/MV: WORKERS MARCH WITH BANNERS (5 SHOTS) 2.08 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 8th November 1996 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NECKARSULM (NEAR STUTTGART), BERLIN AND BREMEN, GERMANY
- City:
- Country: Germany
- Reuters ID: LVA9AK2AVXEUWS4ZAJM42ME7JUGX
- Story Text: INTRO: Germany's key metal and engineering industries has suffered further disruption as tens of thousands of workers staged a second day of a nationwide protest against employers' demands that labour costs be reduced.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Germany's IG Metall union started nationwide protests on Thursday (October 24) over proposed sick-pay cuts. Tens of thousands of engineering workers in companies in several cities downed tools in protest after the failure of talks in a bitter dispute with employers over the cuts.
Warning strikes and protests were staged at companies throughout the country.
Protests went ahead at Daimler-Benz AG's Mercedes luxury car-making plant on the outskirts of Stuttgart and at Volkswagen AG's Audi Neckarsulmer factory, where the Audi workers council said around 5,000 workers stopped work for around an hour.
The chairman of the IG Metall engineering union, Klaus Zwickel, announced "a big day" of protests after negotiations with employers had collapsed in the early hours of Wednesday.
IG Metall earlier this month organised stoppages involving over 100,000 workers at factories around the country after a number of firms said they would implement a new law cutting sick pay to 80 percent of salary from the current 100 percent.
Disruption caused by this and earlier protests cost giant Daimler-Benz AG alone some 220 million marks in lost production.
Daimler and others later said they would be postponing the planned sick pay cuts in an effort to reach wider agreement with workers on the issue. A 20 percent cut in sick pay could save German firms up to 12 billion marks annually in labour costs.
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