Berlin – IG Metall is calling on companies in the German machinery and plant engineering sector to invest in future-oriented fields despite the current crises. Politicians are also being urged to strengthen Germany’s position as a center for mechanical engineering through public investment and an active industrial policy, according to statements made at IG Metall’s nationwide mechanical engineering conference in Berlin. In light of growing reluctance to invest, IG Metall warns of a creeping shift of production capacity abroad.
Wolfgang Lemb, Executive Board Member of IG Metall: “Machinery and plant engineering is a key industry in the German economy. Without the technologies of Germany’s largest employer in the industrial sector, the digital and ecological transformation of the German economy will not succeed. Policymakers also have a role to play. They must actively work with the social partners to shape structural change in a way that is economically, ecologically, and socially sustainable. Systematic support for industrial value creation in the machinery and plant engineering sector is more urgent today than ever.”
Overall, the machinery and plant engineering sector is in a solid economic position, although uncertainty is palpable in light of the various crises. This is the result of a recent brief survey of works council members in the industry. Order intake has recovered significantly following the COVID-19 crisis. The biggest problem continues to be fragile supply chains and unreliable deliveries of intermediate products. Price increases, on the other hand, have so far been passed on in 89 percent of the companies surveyed. Alarming from the works councils’ perspective: investment decisions are being postponed in one-third of the companies. One in five of the works council members surveyed sees the risk of relocations.
Drago Jeric, deputy works council chair at Homag GmbH, and one of approximately 180 conference participants, sums up the mood in the companies as follows: “Many companies have made good money in recent years. We, as the workforce in these companies, must not be made to foot the bill for the effects of the crises and sanctions. Unlike many companies, we employees cannot pass on the high prices. There is no way around substantial wage increases.”
At the Mechanical Engineering Conference on September 29 and 30, around 120 works council members and other experts will gather in Berlin to discuss current industry issues with experts from industry, academia, and politics. Under the motto “We’re Shaping the Future—for Secure and Good Jobs,” the conference will address topics such as shaping the transformation, innovative training concepts, the opportunities and risks of new digital business models, and the role of workplace co-determination in the ecological restructuring of companies. The IG Metall Mechanical Engineering Conference takes place every two years.
