2024-04-26 00:15:50
Ikea customers may have to accept longer waiting times on Friday. In nationwide strike actions, the Verdi union is targeting, among other things, the furniture retailer.
In the stalled collective bargaining dispute, the Verdi union is once again calling on retail and wholesale workers for a nationwide strike day. This Friday, the companies Ikea and Metro AG will be the focus, as Verdi announced on Thursday. Actions and rallies are planned throughout Germany in city centers or at the striking retail companies – including in Hamburg, Berlin, Erfurt, Kassel, Nuremberg, Neuss and Bremen.
“Both companies have a lot of weight in the employers’ collective bargaining committees and are not using this to push the collective bargaining negotiations towards a conclusion,” said Verdi federal board member Silke Zimmer. She called for solutions to be sought together at the negotiating table “in order to contribute to a successful collective agreement.”
The furniture retailer Ikea does not expect any major impacts as a result of the warning strikes. According to a spokeswoman, business operations have always been maintained during Verdi protests in recent months. There were only a few minor disruptions, for example in the form of longer waiting times for customers at checkouts and goods distribution.
Traders increased wages during negotiations
Collective bargaining for the approximately five million retail workers is being conducted in the federal states and has made little progress for months. Even numerous warning strikes and top-level talks at the federal level were unable to change the messy situation.
Verdi is demanding, among other things, at least 2.50 euros more per hour in retail in all regions and a term of one year. Depending on the country, there are additional requirements. The employers recently offered a tariff increase of a total of 10.24 percent over a two-year term, as well as an inflation compensation bonus of 750 euros and a collectively agreed minimum wage.
At the beginning of March, some retail companies, including Ikea, announced that they would increase the wages of their employees. In doing so, they followed a recommendation from the German Trade Association (HDE) to voluntarily increase wages before an official collective bargaining agreement and to later offset this against the collective bargaining agreement. The Verdi union sharply criticized this approach.