Berlin- In view of the loss of tens of thousands of jobs in Germany, IG Metall is calling for a new realism in questions of industrial and trade policy. “The world of the regular -based trade regulations has been imploded. The USA and China have said goodbye to the fair competition,” said the first chairwoman of IG Metall, Christiane Benner, on the occasion of the trade union in Berlin. “We have to counter this new reality. Less state is the wrong way, active state has to be the mission statement. We need an active industrial policy with design claim. The market alone will not judge it.”
Local value creation Binding a prescription of the IG Metall are binding local content regulations A key response to the new geo-economic reality. “Local content is the logical answer to a world in which tariffs, subsidies and unfair trade practices have long since determined everyday life,” said Jürgen Kerner, the second chairman of IG Metall. “If you are serious about strengthening resilience, protecting critical technologies and reducing dependencies, you cannot avoid local content.”
The union therefore demands binding odds, duties and requirements in order to realize more added value in Germany and Europe. “There is no market access at zero tariff. If you want to go to our markets, you have to invest here – in locations, jobs and value creation,” said Kerner from representatives from politics, science and companies. He warned of the consequences if a corresponding regulation fails: “Then we finance the conversion of our industries, the ride of electromobility and the energy transition – and in the end we buy key components from overseas, make ourselves dependent, take critical infrastructures open during our factory halls.”
The union is skeptical about the energy turnaround on the energy transition from the Federal Ministry of Energy. “The report must not serve as a reason for a full braking in the energy transition,” warned Kerner. “The electricity requirement will increase exorbitantly in the next few years. We all have an interest in increasing-with more electric cars, heat pumps and electrified industrial processes.” Gas power plants, which are generally useful as a bridge technology, should not be played against solar, wind and biomass.
Rather, IG Metall calls for a massive expansion of the power grids, more storage and electrolysis capacities, primary approval processes for industrial areas, more direct delivery of trade and industrial medium -sized companies, more effective use of the existing network infrastructure and a significant network expansion for distribution. Financing and the necessary subsidies must be ensured in the long term. In addition, IG Metall continues to push the rapid introduction of a competitive industrial current price of 5 cents per kilowatt hour. Jürgen Kerner: “The industrial flow price must be the bridge, conveying planning security until sufficiently favorable electricity is available from renewable energies.”
No tricks in the special fund! In addition to the right commercial and energy policy-political activities, the economic crisis requires massive public investments according to IG Metall. The special fund of infrastructure and climate neutrality must therefore be quickly stored with concrete investment projects and spent. Benner insists on taking the criterion of the additional nature seriously: “Investments intended in the core budget must not be postponed to the special fund.”
In addition, the Federal Government must set up the Germany fund announced in the coalition agreement. This provides to close investment and financing gaps, particularly in the middle class. The federal government is therefore planning to use ten billion own funds, which are to be levered to at least 100 billion using private capital and guarantees. “Medium -sized companies in the automotive supplier industry must also be able to invest here if they want to invest in sustainable business models,” demands Christiane Benner. “Often enough, they no longer get financing, even if there are good ideas.”
At the IG Metall industrial conference, around 250 works councils in Berlin meet today and tomorrow, on September 23 and 24, to discuss current industrial policy issues with experts from industry, science and politics. The conference takes place for the first time in this form. It is the prelude to further discussions with politics, associations, companies, science and civil society.