Financial TimesFinancial Times

Eurozone’s long-stagnating wages start to rise as cost of living soars

By Martin Arnold

08 May 2022 · 4 min read

As Germany’s biggest union, IG Metall, begins discussions on demands for a wage increase of up to 8.2 per cent for the country’s 85,000 steelworkers in the coming weeks, Birgit Dietze expects reverberations for workers across Europe.

“When companies are making high profits, as they are at the moment, there can and must be compensation for the sharp rise in prices for employees,” Dietze, IG Metall’s chief negotiator in the east German steel industry, told the Financial Times ahead of a vote by the union’s board on Sunday, when members backed the proposed rise.

Sign in to informed

  • Curated articles from premium publishers, ad-free
  • Concise Daily Briefs with quick-read summaries
  • Read, listen, save for later, or enjoy offline
  • Enjoy personalized content
Or

LoginForm.agreeToTerms