Press Statement IG Metall Welcomes Changes to the Continuing Education and Skilled Worker Immigration Act

Jörg Hofmann, President of IG Metall:

“The proposed Continuing Education Act is an important step toward a socio-ecological transformation. It offers workers new prospects amid change. The training allowance serves as an innovative tool to help them remain at the same company while taking on new roles. Entire segments of the workforce can now receive support for professional reorientation during structural change, based on a collective bargaining agreement or a company agreement. This aligns with the concept of the “transition short-time work allowance” advocated by IG Metall. A large group of workers now has access to important opportunities in the face of digitalization and decarbonization.

IG Metall expressly welcomes the strengthening and simplification of support for education and training. It is important that, in addition to on-the-job training and retraining for a new profession, the opportunity for specialization is now also being promoted. This is a significant expansion, particularly in light of the high demand for skilled workers in the energy transition, but also in the context of digitalization.

The Continuing Education Act and the Skilled Worker Immigration Act set a key course for the future. IG Metall welcomes the fact that the attempt to generally open up overseas recruitment to commercial temporary staffing agencies was blocked. We cannot master a socio-ecological transformation and growing demand for skilled workers with “cheap” strategies, but rather through fair mobility and decent work.”

Hans-Jürgen Urban, Executive Board Member of IG Metall and Member of the Administrative Board of the Federal Employment Agency:

“IG Metall welcomes the federal government’s intention to improve young people’s opportunities for vocational training. This is evident, for example, in the mobility grant, which was even expanded during the parliamentary process. This is a step in the right direction toward lowering barriers to entering vocational training. It is now important that these good initiatives do not come to nothing. Employers, too, must now step up and provide more apprenticeships again; otherwise, the apprenticeship guarantee will have to be supplemented with statutory levy-based financing.”