More than 100,000 German metalworkers join strikes over pay demands

A wave of strikes in the German metal and electrical industries is picking up speed with tens of thousands more workers joining in labour actions on Thursday.
The metalworkers' union IG Metall, Germany's largest industrial labour organization, announced on Thursday that the number of workers taking part in strike actions now stands at around 110,000.
The labour protests in factories, which typically last several hours, began on Saturday but grew slowly due to varying public holidays in Germany earlier this week.
But on Thursday alone, 43,000 new workers registered to join the labour stoppages by the afternoon.
IG Metal, which represents approximately 3.9 million workers across the country, is demanding a temporary 12-month raise of 8%. Employers have so far offered one-time payments of €3,000 ($2,925) as well as unspecified wage increases for a period of 30 months in regional negotiations with the union.
The union is planning further strikes ahead of a fourth round of regional negotiations with employers which are set to begin Tuesday in the southern German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.
If no agreement is reached, IG Metal has indicated it wants to increase the length of the strikes to 24 hours or, in certain areas, prepare to ask union members to take part in authorized indefinite strikes.