BERLIN, April 24 (UPI) -- Leaders from Germany's metal industry agreed to pay workers 3 percent more in wages to avert a strike, a measure the industry say will hurt the job market.
The agreement, inked Saturday morning after 10 weeks of negotiations and a final marathon session that lasted 18 hours according to Deutsche Welle Online, has kept roughly 3.4 million workers from laying down their tools.
Speaking at the Hanover Trade Fair Monday, Dieter Brucklacher, president of the German Engineering Federation VDMA called the agreement a "pyrrhic victory" for the industrial trade union IG Metall, arguing it will prevent job creation.
Germany is still battling its high unemployment total of just under 5 million.
The agreement has been fought out in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and now waits to be extended to Germany's other 15 states.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed her support for the agreement.
The 5,000 businesses in the metal industry include major German companies such as steel giant ThyssenKrupp, electronics group Siemens and car makers DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen.
Germany is suffering from an ongoing public sector strike, which has lasted for nearly 10 weeks.
