For whatever this is worth, I had a planned Mar. 8 build date and the car was indeed built by Mar. 10 and now is ONVESL! Apparently no slowdown in the actual build process yet, for which I am grateful.. I have been waiting since I put my deposit Sept. 05, but that is another story.

 

Sounds great, Vintage

 

German metal employers call for more flexible hours

Reuters / March 27, 2006 - 3:00 pm

BERLIN -- The head of Germany's metal and electrical industry employers' association has urged the IG Metall union to accept more flexible working hours as temporary stoppages loomed in a pay dispute, a newspaper reported on Sunday, March 26.

Gesamtmetall President Martin Kannegiesser said in an interview with Der Tagesspiegel newspaper, that the sector urgently needed a loosening of labor rules to allow a longer working week.

The interview was released in a preview ahead of publication in Monday's edition.

IG Metall, Germany's biggest industrial union, is seeking a pay rise of 5 percent for the nation's 3.2 million engineering and metalworkers, although most analysts believe they will get three percent at most.

Gesamtmetall has said it cannot afford more than about 1.2 percent, an offer it says it bases on productivity growth.

Kannegiesser declined to specify what employers might offer but warned that the industry could not afford a "stalemate" like the one currently gripping some parts of the public sector, the newspaper said.

"Despite the relative decline in unit labor costs in recent years we still have the highest labor costs compared with international competitors," the paper quoted Kannegiesser as saying in a preview of its Monday edition.

IG Metall signaled on Saturday, March 25, that it would call its members out on a full strike after Easter if no satisfactory pay offer is forthcoming from Gesamtmetall. The union is already planning so-called warning strikes, typically stoppages of a few hours, from Tuesday, March 28's, night shift on across the country.

Firms targeted included DaimlerChrysler, Porsche, Opel and Audi.

European Central Bank monetary policy makers have repeatedly urged negotiators to ensure wage deals remain "moderate" amid concern wage growth could fuel inflation in the combined economy of the dozen nations using the euro.

 

Another update: The ongoing warning strikes in Germany shut down Porsche production this morning for over an hour from 9:00 a.m. until past 10:00 a.m. During that time, the vice president of the labor union gave a speech to approximately 2,500 workers on strike.

Now: At least the Porsche workers returned to the assembly line after the speech. About an hour later the same guy spoke at DaimerChrysler's factory in Sindelfingen to approximately 15,000 workers, and those workers went home afterwards (!), shutting down DaimlerChrysler production for several hours until the next shift arrived.

(http://www.bw.igm.de/news/meldung.html?id=7763)

 

Too bad I threw away my german/english dicitonary last night. Would have worked well with the article.

 

Not much other relevant information in that article really. The union says it will continue to have warning strikes until the Easter weekend. Along these lines: The fourth round of negotiations between the union and the industry will take place this Friday. I don't expect any progress from that, but I also hope they are going to have at least one more round before a full-blown strike (which the union says could begin after the Easter weekend).

 

Thanks wolfgang. Considering my build started friday, I'm hoping this blows over quick.

 

Saw this update on the labor issues.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060419/...y_wage_dispute

 

Just watched the interview with a lawyer from IG Metall. Simply.....

1. One more slim chance Friday they come to agreement. At 1.5% need to get to 5% increase.

2. Next week (tuesday) they vote in Frankfurt to strike and how.

3. Strikes at the beginning of May.

4. Regional strikes, not the whole country at once. So could be Berlin area or Porsche country.

 

Between steel worker strikes and Delta strikes SOMEBODY is trying to make my European Delivery as hard as possible! Oh,--and Worldcup SOCCER!

Dan

 

My car is a May build.

 

my car is a may build also, hope this **** gets get worked out.

 

My 997 C2S is a May build also.

 

Ouch - Hope this doesn't affect quality (starting and stopping the assembly line)...

 

Here in the US it is a bad idea to buy a car which has been built during labor negotiations that are embittered. Poor quality. I can't see how this will help anyone. I have a May order date, and I for one am going to postpone or cancel.