German metalworkers to make higher wage demand-union

BERLIN, July 22 (Reuters) - Germany's 3.2 million metalworkers will be pushing for bigger pay raises in this autumn's wage round and will strike if employers don't comply, a top union official was quoted as saying on Tuesday. In a "continuing positive economic environment" metalworkers had "every right to table a higher wage demand than in the last wage round," Oliver Burkhard, IG Metall union head in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia, told the Handelsblatt business daily. If there was a sense "employers were not taking their expectations into account, it would lead to a massive mobilisation with all possible consequences," the paper quoted him as saying in a preview of its Wednesday edition.

"Above all, we should look for a swift accord," he added. "The mood in our negotiating committee and among union members is very motivated."

IG Metall demanded a 6.5 percent wage hike for metalworkers in the 2007 wage round and eventually settled for 4.1 percent from June 2007 plus a further 1.7 percent from June 2008 in a contract running for 19 months through October.

The union is expected to make a formal wage demand in the second half of September and the metalworkers accord often sets the tone for other sectors in Europe's biggest economy.

IG Metall chief Berthold Huber was quoted as saying this month that the union would demand more than 6.5 percent this time to help offset the impact of surging energy and food costs.

Martin Kannegiesser, head of the Gesamtmetall employers' group, told Tuesday's edition of Handelsblatt workers should not expect to be fully compensated for accelerating inflation and noted that the economy was turning down.

The European Central Bank (ECB) keeps a close eye on German wage deals for signs that what it considers excessive pay raises may be stoking inflation. (Reporting by Iain Rogers)