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In the coming week, collective bargaining in the metal and electrical industries will begin.
A tough argument is pending.
The new head of the employers' association Gesamtmetall, Stefan Wolf, wants a zero round and even automatic wage cuts when companies are in an economically difficult situation.
He threatens to relocate production abroad.
WORLD:
Mr. Wolf, the metal and electrical industries are not affected by the current partial lockdown.
Is she back over the mountain after the spring crash?
Stefan Wolf:
No, the situation is still extremely difficult.
We already had a recession in our industry before Corona.
It has been better recently and the level is no longer that low, but cheering is not the order of the day.
Over the year as a whole, our operations suffer from a huge drop in sales of between 15 and 25 percent.
The industry as a whole will not be back to pre-recession levels until 2022.
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WORLD:
How helpful are the federal government's measures?
Wolf:
The federal government is doing a good job in this crisis.
The decisions are consistently correct.
There are quite a few industries that could not survive without the support.
Of course, one has to look after the crisis to see how the loans that the state now has to take out to finance the aid are repaid.
Savings will be inevitable.
WORLD:
Instead, tax increases are already being discussed.
Do companies end up paying the bill?
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Wolf:
At the moment there is nothing to distribute with us.
And it will take time for the consequences of the crisis to be overcome.
Politicians should also not forget that German industry is in the midst of a transformation process towards a climate-neutral and digitized economy.
That costs a lot of money.
The vehicle industry, for example, has to make the switch from combustion engines to electric drives.
For this, the companies need air to breathe and no new tax burdens.
WORLD:
Burden threatens also with the labor costs.
IG Metall is demanding four percent more in the collective bargaining round - for wage increases or a four-day week with partial wage compensation.
Wolf:
I have no understanding of how one can come up with something like that now.
Productivity has plummeted and inflation is negative.
There is absolutely nothing to distribute.
We also pay extremely well.
Nationwide, employees in the industry earn an average of 60,000 euros per year, in Baden-Württemberg it is even 65,000 euros.
We don't want to deviate downwards at all.
But now is the time to just pause the wage table.
This is also a question of fairness between the industries: almost all of them are well below the metal and electrical industries.
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WORLD:
Many employees apparently see it differently.
In a recent survey by the union, the majority of respondents said that they care about wage increases.
Wolf:
When I talk to employees, I experience something different.
People are reflecting on what is important in life.
It is clear to them that companies will relocate production abroad and cut jobs if we continue like this and become more and more expensive.
We already have locations abroad.
Many of the employees would therefore be content with what they have.
Some would even work a little more if they could keep their jobs.
WORLD:
There is always a threat that jobs will migrate abroad.
What's different this time?
Wolf:
You don't threaten that.
The difference is that we in Germany are no longer competitive with other countries.
In Hungary, for example, where I have a location, the wage level is of course much lower.
And many countries, such as Bulgaria or Romania, advertise for German companies and support them immensely by granting tax breaks and grants.
In Germany we are back to the point at which we were at the beginning of the 2000s, when Germany was considered the sick man of Europe.
Back then, thanks to Gerhard Schröder and Agenda 2010, we recovered relatively quickly.
But in the last few years we have developed exactly in the opposite direction.
And now the point has come where companies say the move is paying off.
We are not allowed to fuel that!
WELT:
So you want a zero round in the current negotiations?
Wolf:
I don't see any scope for distribution.
And we have to clear out the tariff landscape and access certain discounts that have been created over many years.
The contracts have become too complex.
Again, it's not about the basic table.
But we have to look elsewhere to see how we can reduce labor costs.
In Baden-Württemberg, for example, there are so-called late surcharges for work after 7 p.m.
However, they are paid from 12 noon if the shift ends after 7 p.m.
There is absolutely no reason for that.
And so we will find a lot that can be dispensed with.
WORLD:
What about opening clauses, i.e. opportunities to deviate from the collective agreement?
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Wolf:
The collective agreement is the standard work from which two types of deviations must be possible.
First, we need automatic differentiation.
This means that if the operating profit falls below a certain value, labor costs are automatically reduced.
That would help the company a lot in bad economic situations.
The exact parameters have yet to be discussed.
WORLD:
And secondly?
Wolf: In
addition, we have to be able to deviate operationally because not all problems are automatically recorded.
I imagine that the management can negotiate a differentiation together with the works council - without the union.
When IG Metall is at the table, things always get complicated, especially when a company has locations in several tariff regions.
WORLD:
How can a compromise in the collective bargaining round look like in the end?
Wolf:
It's too early to say that.
However, the employer side has a very clear position.
And IG Metall must finally recognize the seriousness of the economic situation.
The union representatives sit on the supervisory boards of the companies, they see how dramatic the drop in sales is.
WORLD:
At Daimler, Mahle and other companies in the auto industry, there have recently been protests against savings - a sign that major disputes are looming?
Wolf:
It's not new when people gather in front of the factory gates with red flags.
But that's not really constructive.
Instead, the union has to get involved and say how it imagines a modern industrial society.
Climate protection is important, but so are jobs and prosperity.
We employers take all of this into account.
But IG Metall has to do that too - and part of that is that it sometimes makes compromises.
WORLD:
The call for more ambitious climate targets is growing louder at both national and European level.
Is that a threat to your industry?
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Wolf:
You have to harmonize climate protection with other goals.
And there are goals, for example in the vehicle industry, that are technically feasible and others that are not feasible.
The EU Commission wants to enforce a Euro 7 standard for exhaust gas limit values, which is designed in such a way that it would de facto be a ban on the combustion engine.
The consequence would be a massive crash in the German auto industry and the end of these jobs.
We stand by the existing climate targets, which are already tight.
But more is not possible.
You have to be realistic if you don't want to destroy our industry.
WORLD:
Should the federal government negotiate harder in Brussels?
Wolf:
Yes, the German government must make it even clearer in European climate policy that the specifications must be strictly based on what is technically feasible.
And we need openness to technology instead of one-sided control.
Because no politician knows which technology will ultimately prevail on the market.
This text is from WELT AM SONNTAG. We will be happy to deliver them to your home on a regular basis.
Source: Welt am Sonntag