Criticism of the Chancellor and government
Association expects job cuts in the metal and electrical industries
October 8, 2023, 10:21 a.m
The employers’ association Gesamtmetall warns of job cuts in the metal and electrical industries in the coming year. President Wolf accuses Chancellor Scholz of a lack of leadership and complains about an increasing move away from the performance principle.
The president of the Gesamtmetall employers’ association, Stefan Wolf, expects job cuts in the metal and electrical industries in 2024. “The poor order situation is one reason for this. Another reason is that it is now much more attractive for more and more companies to relocate production abroad,” Wolf told “Bild am Sonntag”.
The German economy is heading towards a “real problem situation”. “German industry is receiving far too few new orders – not just from mechanical engineering companies, but also in other key industries such as automobiles and chemicals. We are sliding into a recession, and I don’t see how that will change in 2024 under the current circumstances. ”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz accused Wolf of a lack of leadership. “I appreciate the Chancellor, but he doesn’t lead. A Chancellor has to call a spade a spade, commit his coalition partners to a common goal and then implement solutions. I miss that extremely in this government,” said Wolf.
According to Wolf, the citizen’s benefit increase was a “major mistake”
Wolf also complained about an increasing move away from the performance principle in Germany. The Gesamtmetall boss said he already had a problem with the term “work-life balance”. “It says, work is bad, life is good. Life and work are not opposites.” The topic of performance and work must be presented positively again, not just by employers and associations, especially in families and at schools, said Wolf.
Wolf called the planned increase in citizen’s benefit a “major mistake”: “Depending on the individual situation, in the metal and electrical industry, for example, it may no longer be worthwhile to go to work every day in the two lower salary levels. The distance to citizen’s benefit without having to work then it’s simply too small.”