The start of apprenticeships, the beginning of the semester, coalition negotiations—IG Metall Youth is also using the fall to loudly and visibly bring its demands to the attention of policymakers and employers. Apprentices, dual-track students, and young workers are calling for better training quality, more apprenticeship positions through a contribution-funded training guarantee, and legal and collective bargaining equality for dual-track students. The action weeks for the “Training! Better and More!” campaign will continue through December 6.
We need more apprenticeship positions
A look at Saarbrücken and the surrounding area shows just how desperately needed these demands are. Festo, an automation technology company based in St. Ingberg-Rohrbach, plans to offer only half as many apprenticeship positions next year compared to 2018. “Our ‘hot fall’ began immediately after the executive board announced that the number of new apprenticeship positions would be cut,” says youth and apprenticeship representative Elias Schmauch. “That only reinforced our demands even more. We want more co-determination, more security for the future of the location, and higher numbers of apprenticeship positions overall.”
The local Youth and Apprenticeship Council (JAV) responded quickly with an action plan. They collected signatures, filmed a video for the online company meeting, and eventually held initial negotiations with management regarding the number of apprenticeship positions. On IG Metall’s major “Fairwandel” day of action on October 29, the JAV was right in the thick of the rally at the Neunkirchen soccer stadium, using their banners to draw attention to their apprenticeship situation among the 1,300 participants. At least the employer has already made some concessions. Festo has indicated a willingness to slightly increase the number of apprenticeship positions. “But that’s still not enough for us,” says Elias.
Better Training Quality
In addition to the decentralized day of action, company-level campaigns, and a petition addressed to policymakers, the IG Metall Youth wants to use the “Hot Autumn” campaign to involve apprentices and dual-track students in companies and training centers even more. This is also the case in Riesa: As part of the “Hot Autumn” campaign, Marie Krätzschmar, together with other youth and apprenticeship representatives, launched a survey on the training center there.
“There have always been problems with the quality at this training center,” she says. “The apprentices are simply not satisfied.” Whether this is due more to the teaching or learning materials, and what needs to be improved—that’s what the survey, which is being conducted in four companies by the Local Youth Committee (OJA), aims to reveal. “We’ll then push for the resulting demands to be met, along with other actions,” says Marie. From planning to implementation to evaluation—the OJA in Riesa is involved in the survey from start to finish.
Apprenticeships and Permanent Hires for Everyone
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, not only have apprenticeship positions been declining—but securing permanent employment has also become a tougher fight in many locations than it was before the crisis. Ronja Senger is an apprentice and Youth and Apprentice Council (JAV) chair at Airbus Operations in Bremen. She not only gave the speech at the rally in front of the Airbus factory gate on the day of action, but she was also heavily involved in the preparations. “For all three rally locations in Bremen, we at the OJA prepared banners together, and a livestream connected us all during the event. That created a great sense of community.” On a signal, confetti rockets were launched at all three locations.
And indeed, the apprentices and dual-track students from various companies in Bremen—such as the Lürssen shipyard, Thyssen and Krupp, Daimler, and Thermo Fisher—have a lot in common: both in industry and in the skilled trades, a massive number of apprenticeship positions and job offers after completion are at risk. “With the banners in front of the factory gates, we made it clear to the employers: ‘No apprenticeship means no future for Airbus.’” At Airbus, permanent employment is specifically regulated in a future collective bargaining agreement that is currently being renegotiated. “Of course, we want our apprentices and dual-track students to continue being hired at the locations where they are trained, and we’ll keep fighting for that through our actions.”
Are you also planning actions for the “Hot Autumn” and still looking for ideas? Then take a look at our Activist Guide, available for download here on the extranet. Please register your actions at jugend@igmetall.de so we can mark them on our digital action map.
