Overview

• The tentative agreement covers around 70,000 employees, lifts base pay by 1.75% from January 1, 2026, and raises apprentice pay by €75 a month through December 31, 2026.
• Job-security, contract work, and partial-retirement agreements are extended, including guaranteed trainee take-up and an option to reduce weekly hours to 28 with partial wage compensation.
• Reached in a fourth bargaining round just after the peace obligation expired at midnight, the deal avoids immediate warning strikes and still requires approval by IG Metall’s tariff commission and executive board.
• Employers warn the package is difficult to bear but say it provides planning certainty for 2026, while IG Metall dropped its €300 one-off demand and settled below its 2% wage claim.
• IG Metall is engaging federal ministers today ahead of a planned steel summit, seeking an industrial power price of about €0.05/kWh along with stronger EU trade defenses and local-content rules.