About 200,000 Workers Participate in Strikes at Industrial Enterprises in Germany -Reports

Trade union leader Jorg Hofmann said as cited by Tagesschau on Friday that all workers demand that IG Metall raise their salaries. On Friday alone, about 83,000 employees from around 400 different enterprises stopped working, according to Hofmann.

About 200,000 workers participated in strikes at German steel mills during the first week of the protest action, German media report.

At the end of last week, German metalworkers’ union IG Metall called for nationwide protests after a third round of negotiations over a wage hike failed to bring about a settlement. Workers viewed the union's original demand of an 8% raise over 12 months as too low.

The German Tagesschau news service reported on Friday that in the first week of the "warning strikes" at metallurgical and electrical enterprises across Germany, more than 200,000 people briefly stopped working.

Since last week, strikes have been held at over 1,000 different companies, Tagesschau said.

IG Metall is demanding an 8% wage hike for 3.8 million German workers to offset rampant inflation, while employers have offered workers a 3,000 euro ($2,980) bonus granted over the next 30 months. The new round of talks with the union is scheduled for November 8.