Audi, BMW workers stage strikes over wages, hours

FRANKFURT: Workers at German companies including premium carmakers Audi and BMW are staging further walkouts on Friday amid labour talks seeking higher pay and shorter working hours which are set to continue next week. Powerful labour union IG Metall said workers at Audi’s main plant in Ingolstadt in Bavaria downed tools during the night shift and BMW staff at three factories in Dingolfing, Landshut and Regensburg were to follow suit. Spurred on by the fastest economic growth in six years and record low joblessness, the union is demanding 6 per cent more pay for 3.9 million metals and engineering workers. It has also embarked on its first major campaign for shorter working hours in more than three decades, demanding that workers gain the right to reduce their weekly hours to 28 from 35 to care for children or elderly or sick relatives and then return to full-time employment after two years. — Reuters