German strike set to spread

The strike by Germany's powerful IG Metall union escalated yesterday on the fourth day of the first full strike in the key engineering sector for 11 years. The three-million strong union said action would spread if the employers retaliated with lock-outs. The union extended its strike action yesterday to include 15,000 workers at 22 firms, up from 11,000 on Friday.

Twelve more firms are targeted for strikes on Wednesday in the campaign for a 6 per cent pay rise and talks without preconditions.