Frankfurt am Main—IG Metall and the Central Association for Interior Design and Furnishings (ZVR) welcome the reintroduction of the master craftsman’s certificate requirement for interior designers. Ralf Kutzner, executive board member of IG Metall, and Harald Gerjets, board member of the ZVR, emphasized on October 24, 2019, that this creates a prerequisite for making this profession more attractive. IG Metall and the ZVR view the mandatory master craftsman’s certificate as a strong signal for consumer protection and quality in the skilled trades, as well as for fair competitive conditions.
On September 9, 2019, the grand coalition approved an amendment to the Crafts and Trades Code, which reinstated the mandatory master craftsman’s certificate for twelve trades. The Bundestag will now debate the matter on October 25. “However, this draft can only be a first step toward a sustainable skilled trades sector. Additional trades and regulatory measures must follow,” said Kutzner. “If the skilled trades sector wants to remain attractive to young people, collective bargaining coverage must be strengthened and retirement benefits improved.”
Saddlers, who are also represented by the ZVR, are not included in the upcoming partial revision of the Crafts and Trades Act. “We are disappointed that saddlers—one of the oldest occupational groups and thus a craft considered a cultural asset—were not included in the reintroduction of the master craftsman requirement,” explained Harald Gerjets, chairman of the ZVR. “The ZVR will continue to do everything in its power to ensure that saddlers also return to the master craftsman requirement.”
In 2004, the federal government abolished the master craftsman requirement in over 50 skilled trades. The ZVR and IG Metall have long been pushing for a return to the master craftsman requirement and submitted numerous facts regarding all skilled trades to the dialogue and consultation process conducted by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy this past summer, during which all trades and social partners were consulted. A comprehensive hearing was also held in the German Bundestag’s Economic Committee. The social partners are now all the more disappointed that only twelve trades have made it onto the list of those requiring a master craftsman’s certificate. An evaluation of the new regulations is planned in five years.
The interior decorating trade, with 35,000 employees nationwide, is the second-largest of the twelve trades—after tile setters—for which the master craftsman’s certificate requirement is to apply again in the future. Approximately 5,200 men and women work as upholsterers nationwide. As automotive upholsterers, for example, they are also involved in the interior fitting of motor vehicles.
