Above their heads they wave IG Metall flags and signs demanding a collective agreement, they hold banners with the inscription “Future or resistance” and “Sustainably anti-social” – these are the images that have been shown by employees since the end of November last year at the Lüneburg location of the mechanical engineering company Jungheinrich circulating on the internet.
They have been on strike for 78 days. Originally they wanted to force their employer to negotiate about keeping their jobs. Jungheinrich announced in the summer of 2025 that it planned to close the plant by the end of 2027.
The hope of saving production is buried. Of the around Of the 380 jobs in Lüneburg, only 140 positions in construction and administration are to be retained. For the remaining 190 industrial workers, the planned closure of the plant by 2027 means the loss of their jobs.
This clear-cutting is part of a global savings program with which Jungheinrich wants to cut a total of 1,000 jobs – in addition to Lüneburg, Norderstedt in the north is particularly affected, with 235 jobs lost.
Court hearing canceled
An end to the strike therefore seems to be in sight. Both sides will be negotiating severance payments starting next week. These should be given to employees in Lüneburg who are likely to lose their jobs. Additional severance payments for IG Metall members are also being negotiated.
The employers and employees have agreed to continue the discussions next week from Monday to Thursday, according to a statement from Tuesday this week. Both parties have agreed not to disclose any concrete agreements and future next steps.
The employees have been on strike since November and are currently still on strike.
Jan Mentrup, IG Metall Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt
A court hearing that was scheduled at the Lüneburg Labor Court was canceled at short notice. This involved an application by the employer for an interim injunction against the strikers. On January 15th, as part of the strike, they blocked access to the factory for five and a half hours.
According to the court, both parties had “reached an interim agreement in light of the negotiations that have now begun.” The court date is therefore cancelled. A Jungheinrich press spokesman confirmed this to the taz.
Record-breaking
The industrial dispute in Lüneburg was particularly intense. The strikers not only blocked the gates, they also demonstrated in Wohltorf in Schleswig-Holstein, where the owner families live, and in front of the Maritim Hotel in Düsseldorf. The gala of the “German Sustainability Award” took place there, for which the Jungheinrich company was honored.
It is rare for a labor dispute to last this long. Last cracked Employees of a recycling company in Espenhain in Saxony At the turn of the year 2023/24, the record for the longest strike in the metal industry and in the history of IG Metall. They went on strike for over six months.
Even if the fight to keep the jobs is lost, a collective agreement is still at stake. Jan Mentrup, press spokesman for IG Metall, says the situation remains unchanged. “The employees have been on strike since November and are currently still on strike,” he says.