Germany: IG Metall executive proposes 'moderniser' as new general secretary

In September 2007, the executive of the influential IG Metall metalworkers’ trade union proposed Berthold Huber, regarded as a “moderniser”, as the successor to the current general secretary, Jürgen Peters. The deciding vote is set to take place at the union’s congress in November.

Peters assumed the leadership of IG Metall in 2003 following a period of turbulence after the union’s defeat in a strike for a shorter working week in eastern Germany. He has stated that he will not seek reappointment. This reflects a long-standing “understanding” between the two, whereby Huber would succeed Peters.

While Peters is widely seen as a left-winger and union “traditionalist”, Huber has the reputation of being a moderniser. Although each is viewed as heading entrenched camps inside IG Metall, this characterisation is open to question. For example, when he had regional responsibilities, Peters concluded the “5000 x 5000” agreement at Volkswagen in 2001, which provided for a high level of working time flexibility in return for job creation. For his part, Huber has opened a strategic debate about the status of collective agreements in regulating the workplace that fits uneasily into a conventional “left/moderniser” division.

The accommodation between Peters and Huber in 2003 is seen as having enabled IG Metall – which is Germany’s largest union, with some 2.3 million members – to overcome a bout of severe internal strife, and there was reportedly little appetite to reopen factional differences in the current appointment of the new general secretary, at least in public.

The current IG Metall leadership signed a landmark collective agreement in metalworking in 2004, which provided for extensive concessions on hours and pay in the event of company economic difficulties, or if a company made fresh investment and job creation conditional on such a package. Although often seen as a retreat from the primacy of the industry-level agreement, IG Metall collective bargaining specialists saw this accord as an opportunity to scrutinise company plans and work closely with works councils on concluding workplace agreements. Aided by booming exports, the union has more recently achieved real wage gains in sectoral negotiations.

The executive has also proposed Detlef Wetzel as deputy general secretary. Wetzel is currently the regional head of IG Metall in North Rhine-Westphalia, where he has engaged in innovative and successful recruitment campaigns that have stemmed a fall in membership.

European Employment Review 405 (EER 405) contents