Frankfurt am Main – On May 1, IG Metall issued an urgent warning against cuts to social programs and short-sighted industrial policy. Instead, the union is calling for targeted investments in future technologies, competitive energy prices, and strong worker participation and collective bargaining agreements to secure jobs and social cohesion.
“Cutting social benefits does not create economic growth,” emphasizes Christiane Benner, President of IG Metall. Germany as an industrial hub faces major challenges. But we won’t solve any of our problems by taking away workers’ rights and cutting benefits. Rather, we’ll solve them through competitive energy prices, the expansion of renewable energy, and innovation. Through investments in future-oriented industrial sectors such as humanoid robotics, artificial intelligence, the circular economy, and battery manufacturing and recycling. Shaping the new, but also preserving the core—securing jobs in industry and skilled trades. Shaping the future. That’s what it’s all about!”
Benner makes it clear that these future-oriented sectors, like all other industries, need effective co-determination, committed works councils, and strong unions: “This is how we ensure good and fair work and collective bargaining agreements for everyone. We’ve proven this in the successful works council elections, and we’ll do the same in successful collective bargaining rounds in the metal and electrical industries!”
In light of the changing global situation , IG Metall’s Second Chair, Jürgen Kerner, warns: “We are far too dependent. Worse still: We are knowingly making ourselves even more dependent, thereby recklessly endangering industrial infrastructure and jobs.” He accuses large segments of the political establishment and the business community of denying reality: “We no longer live in 1992, when supply chains could be expanded across the globe just to save a few cents. Today, it’s about smart industrial policy and innovation, about European cooperation and unity, about protecting our democracy and resisting authoritarian politics.”
According to Kerner, the key now is to preserve industry and adapt it to the new era. This requires new solutions, first and foremost an effective and reliable industrial electricity price as well as binding local-content requirements: “Anyone who sells a product in Germany and Europe must also produce it here. We must not stand by and watch again as future technologies flourish elsewhere because we fail to create the right conditions here.”
IG Metall’s collective bargaining director, Nadine Boguslawski, calls out to employers: “Without our work, you wouldn’t earn a single cent.” The east must not continue to be a low-wage region with incomes 17 percent lower than in the west. Lower wages also mean lower pensions. Regarding the debate sparked by Chancellor Merz, Boguslawski says: “What is considered basic security in the west means poverty in old age in the east.”
Collective bargaining agreements are the key to growth and justice, especially in times of crisis, pressure, and economic change: “No matter how much Merz and Co. want to water down the laws: Collective bargaining agreements stand for quality! Governments come and go, but collective bargaining agreements remain,” says Boguslawski, referring to discussions such as continued pay during sick leave.
IG Metall’s Social Affairs Director Hans-Jürgen Urban makes it clear : “Social cuts don’t fill order books. The race toward ever-harsher social cuts must stop. Anyone who wants to shrink the statutory pension, cut healthcare, or demand waiting periods is attacking the social security of workers and their families.”
Economic recovery, security, and acceptance of ecological change would result from public investment, targeted industrial policy for innovation, and a strong welfare state: “This is also financially feasible: Those with greater means must shoulder a greater burden. Very high incomes, wealth, and inheritances must no longer be exempt from the solidarity-based community,” says Urban.
IG Metall’s Director of Education, Ralf Reinstädtler, calls for an active industrial and structural policy: “We need a policy that boldly shapes the future and tackles the defining issues of our time. Anyone who wants change in this country must ensure security amid that change. Instead of debates over social policy cuts, we now need a bold industrial policy that secures value creation in the country and creates prospects for the future.”
Germany needs more innovation and a strengthened basic industrial sector: “Without steel, there are no bridges, no houses, no cars—that’s why we must not allow ourselves to become dependent in this area.” The new EU protective tariffs on steel are a logical and important decision. Reinstädtler: “But independence also means consistently investing in renewable energy. It’s no coincidence that the countries with the lowest electricity prices in Europe have invested heavily in renewable energy.”
Note for editorial offices:
On our press portal, you’ll find an overview of where the chairpersons and executive board members of IG Metall will be speaking on May 1.
