The State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Matthias Machnig, has met industry, union and trade association representatives for a summit talk.
State Secretary Machnig, the President of the German Association of Skilled Crafts (ZDH), Hans Peter Wollseifer, and Stefan Körzell, a member of the Federal Executive Board of the Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB), subsequently signed a joint declaration regarding skilled trades policy. The paper focuses on safeguarding skilled labour and employment, digitalisation and investment policy.
State Secretary Machnig: "With more than one million businesses, 5.4 million employees and more than 500 billion euro net turnover, the skilled trades are one of the most important industry sectors in our country. If the skilled trades are to remain a guarantor for wealth and employment also in the future, in a rapidly changing economic environment, we need to set the political course to enable this in time. This can only be achieved together, if politics, businesses, the skilled trades organisation and unions work together in a constructive manner. We are on the right course to do so. For me, today's declaration is a symbol of active social partnership in Germany. All involved parties have agreed to implement new impulses for the skilled trades and its employees."
ZDH President Hans Peter Wollseifer: "We are running into a recruitment trap. This is why equivalence of vocational and academic training must be firmly established in society. The attractiveness of the unique dual system of vocational education and training must be further increased. It is the only way we can get both high-performing youths and young people with learning difficulties to achieve their respective educational objectives. 550 central vocational education institutions and competence centres have a decisive role in achieving this. They are also guarantors for enabling businesses in the skilled trades to occupy a leading role in the field of digitalisation. A frequent obstacle here is the required fast internet connection. This is not the only field requiring more infrastructure investments. Here we need to take into consideration new methods of funding, including also private capital. In this regard, businesses in the skilled trades expect framework conditions that favour small and medium-sized businesses."
DGB Federal Executive Board Member Stefan Körzell: "We need to reinforce tariff commitment in the skilled trades in order to create improved framework conditions for good work in this industry sector. In addition, the vocational education and training provision must be made more attractive for young people in order to counteract demographic change. All this is only possible with guilds, associations and unions that are strong in members in the context of an active social partnership. That way, challenges such as safeguarding the skilled labour supply, digitalisation and the energy transition can be mastered collaboratively."
The meeting took place in the context of the industry sector dialogues organised by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs. These industry sector dialogues are structured into three tiers: public online consultations, industry sector dialogues on a working basis at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and a concluding meeting between the respective top representatives.