German metals sector threatens strikes as wage offer falls short

DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) - Germany's biggest trade union, IG Metall, rejected a wage offer on Monday for workers in the metals and electrics sector in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), the country's industrial heartland, and threatened strikes from late April. Companies in the sector offered a wage increase of 1.2 percent, which IG Metall said comprised a one-time payment of 0.3 percent and another 0.9 percent over 12 months. That was well below IG Metall's demand for wage increases of 5 percent for 3.8 million metals and electrics sector workers after the German economy grew by 1.7 percent last year. "This is not an offer, this is a provocation for all of IG Metall," Knut Giesler, the union's regional leader for NRW, said. (Reporting by Matthias Inverardi; Writing by Maria Sheahan; Editing by Michelle Martin)