Berlin – IG Metall is calling on German mechanical and plant engineering companies to invest in future fields despite the current crises. Politicians are also required to strengthen Germany as a location for mechanical engineering with public investment and an active industrial policy, it was said at the nationwide mechanical engineering conference of IG Metall in Berlin. In view of the increasing reluctance to invest, IG Metall warns of a gradual relocation of production capacities abroad.
Wolfgang Lemb, executive board member of IG Metall: “Mechanical and plant engineering is a key industry in the German economy. The digital and ecological transformation of the German economy will not succeed without the technologies of the German industrial sector with the highest number of jobs. Politics is also required. It must actively and together with the social partners shape the structural change in an economically, ecologically and socially sustainable manner. A systematic promotion of industrial added value in mechanical and plant engineering is more urgent than ever today.”
Overall, mechanical and plant engineering is economically sound, although the uncertainty in view of the various crises is noticeable. This is the result of a recent brief survey of works councils in the industry. Incoming orders have recovered significantly after the Corona crisis. The biggest problem continues to be fragile supply chains and unsafe supplies of primary products. Price increases, on the other hand, have so far been passed on in 89 percent of the companies surveyed. Alarming from the point of view of the works councils: In a third of the companies, investment decisions are being postponed. One in five of the works councils surveyed sees the risk of relocation.
Drago Jeric, deputy chairman of the works council at Homag GmbH, and one of around 180 participants at the conference summed up the mood in the companies as follows: “Many companies have made good money in recent years. We as workforces in the companies must not 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 strong wage increases.”
Around 120 works council members and other specialists will meet at the mechanical engineering conference in Berlin on September 29 and 30 to discuss current topics in the sector with experts from industry, science and politics. Under the motto “We make the future – for safe and good work”, topics such as the design of the transformation, innovative training concepts, the opportunities and risks of new, digital business models or the role of corporate co-determination in the ecological conversion of companies are discussed. The mechanical engineering conference of the IG Metall takes place every two years.