Overview
- Coordinated NGG warning strikes on Thursday and Friday stopped production at several plants, with more than 250 workers at Zott in Mertingen, about 100 at Neuburger Milchwerke, and a Kempten demonstration attended by roughly 750 people.
- The NGG is demanding a 4.1 percent wage increase for 12 months, €80 per month for apprentices, and a permanent payment equivalent to five flexible paid workdays per year.
- Employers have offered 2.1 percent for 13 months, have withdrawn a prior pledge on relief days, and say the union’s paid-days demand is unaffordable while also arguing parts of the strikes may be legally barred under an existing framework agreement.
- Both sides are preparing for the next tariff talks on August 10–11 and the union says recent plant stoppages are meant to increase pressure ahead of that session; the parties could see further coordinated actions if no deal is reached.
- The dispute affects about 19,000 dairy and cheese workers in Bavaria and is playing out in a sector with tight margins and high costs, which employers say constrain pay rises while workers point to heavy weekend and night shifts, travel costs for apprentices, and staff retention problems.