Will Bavaria’s brewery workers go on strike?

With collective bargaining talks having failed, employers and workers place their hope on arbitration. Should there be no agreement, strikes will be imminent.

Since October last year, the union “Food Pleasure Restaurants” (yup, that’s what it’s called) has conducted bargaining talks with the Bavarian Brewers Association, asking for a six percent pay rise and a guarantee that all apprentices will be given a 12 month contract after the end of their apprenticeship. The agreement is to be valid for six months only until the summer. The union believes that the threat of a strike during the summer months will make the employers relent more quickly during bargaining talks.

The employers’ side is offering a 2.4 percent pay rise.

The union says that in the past few years pay rises have been modest and in view of a price hike of 10 percent on beer, which the brewers have scheduled for the autumn of 2008, they deserve some of that profit.

Should arbitration not lead to an agreement, union workers will take a vote on a strike. If 75 percent are in favour, strikes could be scheduled for March – when Bavaria’s breweries kick off production for the summer months.

It was reported that over the past decade, about 5,000 jobs have been cut in the Bavarian brewing industry alone. Bavaria’s 618 breweries employ 10,000 people, Germany’s breweries a total of 30,000 (2006).