Press Release No. 68/2015 IG Metall: Employer Lobby Denies Increasing Workloads

Düsseldorf – IG Metall has criticized the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations for its stance on occupational safety. “Workloads must be reduced, not denied. This must be the top priority. The fact alone that the number of days lost due to mental health issues has risen by about a third to 79 million within a single year speaks for itself,” said Hans-Jürgen Urban, executive board member of IG Metall, on Thursday at the A A Occupational Safety and Health Congress in Düsseldorf, an international gathering of experts on safe and healthy work. Urban referred to data from the latest report by the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) on the state of occupational safety and health and, at the same time, criticized the stance taken by employers.

With its latest publication on the quality of work (“Facts Instead of Distortions – Quality of Work in Germany”), the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations has definitively abandoned the consensus on “good work” and is now attacking the bearer of bad news instead of jointly tackling the problems and increasing prevention efforts in the workplace. The modern world of work requires modern occupational safety and health measures. Unfortunately, the employers’ associations are relying on yesterday’s solutions, Urban criticized.

Urban also called on the Chancellor’s Office to stop acting as a lackey for the employers’ lobby and to finally clear the way for a modern Workplace Ordinance. “For nearly a year now—bypassing all democratic institutions—there have been closed-door negotiations between the Minister in the Chancellor’s Office and the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations. These secret negotiations regarding the Workplace Ordinance must finally come to an end,” Urban demanded.