Press Release No. 61/2015 Irene Schulz: “IG Metall is growing and expanding into new companies and industries”

Frankfurt am Main – IG Metall is growing and gaining members in new workplaces and industries. “Our acceptance in workplaces has increased significantly in recent years. Behind our growth are outreach, participation, dialogue, and persuasion—direct contact and direct conversation in the workplace,” said Irene Schulz, executive board member of IG Metall, on Monday at the union convention in Frankfurt. More than 20,000 employees have recruited new members for IG Metall this year. In doing so, they were supported by IG Metall with practical strategies and best practices to serve as role models. In addition, new offerings for members helped prevent resignations during the transition from apprenticeship to full-time employment as well as during the transition to retirement.

By expanding into additional workplaces and industries, IG Metall is paving the way for greater worker participation and collective bargaining coverage. “Tapping into untapped areas is essential for our ability to act—and it only works with participation. We’ve made gains almost everywhere here in Germany,” said Schulz. Workforces were organized, works councils established, and collective bargaining agreements secured. Collective bargaining coverage has increased, particularly in eastern Germany. In Leipzig alone, the union succeeded in concluding collective bargaining agreements for approximately 2,500 employees working for contract logistics providers on the BMW and Porsche plant grounds.

“Especially in anti-union environments where we still have no co-determination structures whatsoever, organizing is a successful approach to gaining a foothold,” said Schulz. The recent study by the Otto Brenner Foundation on “Union Busting in Germany”—that is, the systematic prevention and suppression of co-determination—proves that this is not a matter of isolated incidents. “The scandal is that employers are out of touch with the times and, in a feudal manner, still believe that democracy ends at the factory gate,” said Schulz. In addition, so-called specialists from law firms rely on a business model that is as lucrative as it is corrupt, one that is used to undermine workers’ rights. “That’s where our systematic outreach approach comes in. We reach out to employees simultaneously and directly—in the parking lot, in front of the gate, and through home visits. We build activist groups, support works council elections, and launch public awareness campaigns,” said Schulz. Establishing co-determination structures, he added, is not a matter of chance but an indispensable necessity.