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E.German IG Metall resumes wage talks

BERLIN: The chief negotiator for the eastern chapter of Germany's IG Metall engineering trade union said on Monday a wage deal would have to be reached in the east before the union could fully accept a landmark deal in the west.

"We're not going to sign a wage agreement in the west and leave the east just hanging there," IG Metall's Hasso Duevel said before negotiations for Berlin and Brandenburg resumed on Monday.

IG Metall is pressing for wages in formerly communist eastern Germany to be raised in line with western levels and has refused to adopt as a model a deal reached recently in the big western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Most western chapters of the union have already agreed to accept the pilot settlement, which allows for a three percent pay rise this year, a further 2.1 percent increase in 2001 and early retirement provisions.

Engineering workers are planning lightning strikes and demonstrations throughout east Germany, whose engineering and automotive industry is small compared to that of west Germany.

A deal in Berlin and Brandenburg could serve as a model for east German regions.-Reuters