A potential pay deal between the dairy sector in the German state of Bavaria and workers collapsed “at the last minute”, according to the local food trade union.
The Gewerkschaft Nahrung-Genuss-Gaststätten (NGG) said 15 hours of negotiations with dairy companies, including Danone, Ehrmann and Nestlé did not result in a wage dispute resolution.
The third round of negotiations took place on Monday (22 July) as circa 19,000 employees have been undertaking ‘warning strikes’ across 28 dairy and cheese factories throughout Bavaria, according to Mustafa Öz, chief negotiator and regional chairman of NGG Bayern.
The union was asking for a fixed-wage increase of €411 ($447) per month for each employee. Öz said the employers on Tuesday (23 July) initially agreed to a wage increase of over 9% over a period of 24 months and an inflation compensation bonus of €1,075 as a one-off net payment.
“Everything was agreed and negotiated down to the point and comma. And then there was a bang: the employers let the negotiated compromise fail. They surprisingly backed out at the last minute – and thus caused lasting damage to the relationship of trust,” Öz said.
“Above all, however, they are denying their own employees the urgently needed wage increase. This is unprecedented in the history of negotiations and nothing that must be repeated.”
The NGG is now looking at arbitration to settle the dispute, which the union said is set to get underway next month.
However, if the arbitration fails, the NGG will “massively increase the economic pressure on the employers in the dairy industry”, it said.
“Then there will be – very certainly – a massive strike in the dairies and cheese dairies throughout Bavaria. And that then also means noticeable production losses and thus emptier shelves in the supermarkets,” said Öz.
A Danone spokesperson told Just Food it does “not comment on ongoing wage negotiations” but that it had only suffered “two very limited strikes - both in scope and duration”.
The spokesperson added: “We were able to continue production, albeit at a slightly reduced capacity. Therefore, we do not anticipate any delivery difficulties. Consumers will continue to find our popular products on the shelves.”
Nestlé declined to comment on the wage dispute and Ehrmann could not be reached.
