Germany: Engineering firms bring forward agreed pay rise

A number of major metalworking companies in Germany - including Audi, Bosch, Ford, Porsche and Siemens - have announced that they will award a 2.7% pay increase in February 2011, two months earlier than the national agreement requires.

The current sectoral collective agreement for the metalworking industry, reached by regional employers' associations and the IG Metall trade union in February 2010, provided for a freeze in basic pay rates until 2011.