IG Metall boss Christiane Benner (57) demands a contribution to coping with the crisis in the industry from the shareholders of the car manufacturers in Germany. The shareholders should cut back at the dividend height. “We have to go through there,” said Benner.
The German car manufacturers Mercedes-Benz, BMW and the VolkswagenGroup, to which the sports car manufacturer also Porsche and Audi counts have recently announced significant slumps in profits. Nevertheless, Volkswagen was the dividend this year at 6.30 euros per dividend authority and 6.36 euros per preferred share. At BMW and Mercedes it was 4.30 euros each.
At Volkswagen, mainly benefits the Porsche SE investment holding company, which keeps almost a third of the stem and preferential shares, from the distribution. Porsche SE is again controlled by the Porsche and Piëch families, which also hold half of the share capital. From the dividend at BMW, half of the total of 2.7 billion euros released flows to the company heirs Stefan Quandt (59) and Susanne Klatten (63).
“The problems of individual companies are stored differently, but the situation for industry and the employees is already precarious,” said the trade unionist. The challenges are approaching.
The sales figures for coron apandemia would currently not be achieved in the EU. “As a result, works are not busy, and we conduct hard clashes that employees do not wear the loads unilaterally,” said Benner. There are also homemade problems for which management should take responsibility.
The companies would now have to prove staying power and continue to invest in future products. “This will pay off, but the dry spell for one or the other will just be a bit long,” emphasized Benner. According to the top trade unionist, innovations are necessary, but also industrial -political support from Berlin and Brussels. Suppliers need support for financing in the renovation and Europe their own battery industry.
In addition, the framework conditions for electrified car traffic have so far not been sufficient. “Purchase incentives, charging infrastructure, raw material supply, recycling: These are the topics for a European automotive industrial policy,” says Benner.