Germany’s biggest trade union strikes a deal on pay

“On the whole we are pretty happy with the deal,” says Stefan Wolf, boss of Gesamtmetall, the metal-engineering industry’s employers’ association, about an agreement on pay struck on November 18th for workers in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg. IG Metall, Germany’s mightiest trade union, had asked for a hefty annual pay increase of 8%. Bosses managed to buy time by granting them an increase of 8.5% spread over two years. That deal…