Frankfurt am Main – IG Metall is calling on policymakers and employers to do everything in their power now to establish equal working and living conditions throughout Germany. Speaking Thursday in Frankfurt am Main at the Eastern Works Council Conference organized by IG Metall, Wolfgang Lemb, executive board member of IG Metall, said: “The fact that employers have recently once again mounted massive resistance to the introduction of an equalization allowance for employees in the eastern German states sends a disastrous signal more than 30 years after reunification. The goal of equal living conditions, as enshrined in the Basic Law, is and remains non-negotiable for us. It is time for employers, too, to finally accept this constitutional mandate and implement concrete measures to achieve it.”
The conference highlighted the problem that collective bargaining coverage in eastern Germany remains lower than in western Germany, resulting in lower wages, longer working hours, and poorer working conditions. Furthermore, the formation of works councils in eastern Germany is repeatedly thwarted by targeted union-busting—an issue that concerns our colleagues not only in light of next year’s works council elections. Furthermore, strategic decisions regarding the direction of companies are still mostly made at corporate headquarters in western Germany and abroad—often with far-reaching consequences for entire regions.
Once a year, IG Metall invites works council members from the new federal states to the Eastern Works Council Conference to exchange ideas with practitioners and experts. This year, around 60 colleagues—participating in a virtual conference—spent two days addressing topics such as the implementation of collective bargaining agreements, the federal election this fall, next year’s upcoming works council elections, and the challenges of transformation. In this context, they also discussed experiences from the post-reunification period and the lessons that can be drawn from them for today’s times of upheaval.
During the conference, the “Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Workplace and Society” was also presented. The award recognized the work of the works councils at Norma in Gerbershausen and the colleagues at Kabelwerke Meißen. In the case of Norma, negotiations regarding a plant closure—with the help of a social collective bargaining agreement—succeeded in holding the employer accountable for the site’s future use and buying more time. After years of non-compliance with collective bargaining agreements and ten years of wage stagnation, the committee in Meißen successfully re-established compliance with the collective bargaining agreement. In his laudatory speech, Wolfgang Lemb said: “These are the examples that inspire hope, that show it can be done. The union’s ability to achieve results is the key to success. This applies in the East and in the West.”
Further information and press photos of Wolfgang Lemb
