The wage agreement also includes a further wage hike of 1.7 percent from May next year, with the deal scheduled to run until the end of 2018. It is expected to serve as a pilot deal for the remaining 16,000 steelworkers in other German regions. Originally, the steelworkers wanted to get 4.5 percent more over the course of the next 12 months. But company representatives, including those from German steel behemoths ThyssenKrupp and Salzgitter AG, had offered only 1.3 percent, unleashing warning strikes across the sector. Rising wages have played an increasing role for German growth in the past few years, boosting private consumption as an important pillar of economic activity.

Source: Daily News Egypt March 17, 2017 09:33 UTC