DGB: The situation in the industry is “threatening”

DGB boss Fahimi warned of a situation that threatens the very existence of German industry due to high energy prices. The economy fears deindustrialisation.


Yasmin Fahimi

Yasmin Fahimi, head of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), warned of the large number of job losses in Germany due to the high-priced energy crisis. Fahimi told the dpa in Berlin:

It truly existentially threatens what is going on in the industry right now.

DGB boss Yasmin Fahimi

Fahimi criticized the failure to allow bonuses and dividends to be paid to companies that donated more than 50m euros, following the decision to curb energy prices.

Fahimi: Time for “effective action in reality”

Corporations could not accept government support if they were bound by the promise of dividends or needed new capital for investment. “These are the normal mechanisms of a market economy,” said Fahimi.

You may not like them. But now is the time for real effective action, not fundamental capitalism-critical discussions.

DGB Chairman Yasmin Fahimi

It is currently acknowledged that, with the exclusion of dividend payments, “the risk of deindustrialization in Germany has increased”.

Economy fears deindustrialization

The German economy also fears the creeping deindustrialization in this country, with possible ramifications for many jobs. Siegfried Russwurm, President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), told dpa that Germany as a workplace has many “disabled people” and is losing its competitiveness.

Peter Adrian, President of the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), also warned against increasing production from abroad.

Electricity prices in America are now one-fifth of what we pay here in Germany. On gas it’s now one in seven.

Peter Adrian, President of DIHK

According to Adrian, moving industrial production abroad is a gradual process. Germany and the EU would also have to remove bureaucratic barriers and speed up their planning processes.

Industry President Russwurm called for, among other things, more efficient approval practices and more tax incentives for investments in Germany.

Energy prices are overloaded with taxes and fees. We can no longer afford this in global competition.

Siegfried Russwurm, Head of BDI

Fahimi calls for competitive electricity prices

DGB boss Fahimi fears that “many companies may cut production in the coming months and go out of business in the future”. Regarding the planned continuation of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s (SPD) joint action with unions and employers, Fahimi said:

That’s why we will put the question of how we can make industrial electricity prices competitive in our discussions with the federal government next year.

Yasmin Fahimi, President of the German Trade Union Confederation

“The deeper the disruptions in the value chain, the more companies in the value chain leave Germany, the more dramatic the domino effect,” said Fahimi.

And it’s not a matter of two or three years. It’s a matter of one to three quarters in 2023.

Yasmin Fahimi, President of the German Trade Union Confederation

This should be clear to all political leaders.

Source: ZDF


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