German industrial workers strike as union steps up pay campaign

Thousands of German workers staged strikes at metals and engineering firms on Monday in support of wage claims by union IG Metall, which announced a further wave of walkouts for Tuesday. With the economy in robust health and unemployment at record lows, the country's biggest union is demanding an inflation-busting 6% pay hike this year for about 3.9 million workers. Ahead of a round of regional negotiations due to begin on Thursday, employers have so far offered 2% plus a one-off €200 payment in the first quarter. On Monday, more than 3,000 employees downed tools at sports car maker Porsche in Stuttgart, taking the number of industrial workers who have taken action since the start of last week to more than 15,000, according to IG Metall. "The employers provoked these warning strikes with their behaviour at the negotiating table," Knut Giesler, head of IG Metall in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous. In that state, the country's industrial heartland, the union has called for stoppages at 143 companies on Tuesday, including Lumileds, the LED components and car lighting business formerly owned by Philips, and Thyssenkrupp unit Rothe Erde. IG Metall is also...