Helga Schwitzer is the executive board member of the IG Metall Union and is responsible for collective bargaining. Schwitzer successfully negotiated a new collective agreement for the metal and electrical industry and agreed to a 15 percent wage increase for agency workers in the sector, an agreement that led to collective bargaining agreements in other industries. From 1985 to 2007, Schwitzer was the union secretary of IG Metall district headquarters of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. She is also an honorary judge at the Federal Labour court in Erfurt and is a member of the SPD.
