About 1,000 union-backed confectionery workers in Germany are on strike over pay today (13 June) in the city of Aachen, which falls outside a court-enforced ban.
Last Friday (9 June), the Hamburg Labor Court ruled in favour of a request from the Federal Association of the Confectionery Industry (BDSI) trade body to temporarily prohibit strikes from going ahead across nine states.
The Food-Genuss-Gaststätten (NGG) union said it had appealed the court decision today. Last month, NGG had called for industry-wide strikes to take place across Germany in June after the union rejected the latest pay offer in a second round of talks with the BDSI, which represents confectionery and bakery companies such as Haribo, Nestlé and Bahlsen.
Freddy Adjan, the deputy chairman of the NGG, said in a statement provided to Just Food: “Once again, employers, and in particular the Federal Association of the Confectionery Industry, have shown that they have neither tact nor understanding for the economic hardship of the people who manufacture their products.
“While celebrating sales records, many workers no longer know how to pay their bills given the extreme price increases of the past few months.”
The BDSI said in its own statement that the Hamburg Labor Court “correctly determined” that 2023 is an exceptional year when it comes to nationwide pay negotiations given the challenging economic environment.
It added: “The BDSI continues to expect that the union will meet at the next meeting on June 22/23 2023 for serious and constructive talks at the negotiating table. In the interests of the more than 200 companies in the confectionery industry and its 60,000 employees strive for a collective agreement before the start of the summer holidays.”
The NGG indicated collective bargaining between the union and the BDSI will go ahead in Hamburg on 22 June.
However, deputy chairman Adjan suggested “several thousand” confectionery workers will still take to the streets in Germany this week in areas falling outside of the court order on strike action.
He added: “The BDSI poured oil on the fire with its application for a ban. We respect the court’s decision but believe it is wrong and are appealing.
“Until the final legal clarification, we will expand our strike activities in the federal states and companies that are not affected by today’s decision. If there is no strike in the east and south-west for the time being, the colleagues in the west, north and south simply leave their strike vests on all the longer.”
