Industry: Entrepreneur Stihl warns: "Can no longer afford a 35-hour week"
Mercedes supervisory board chief Martin Brudermüller had suggested a longer working hours without wage compensation in the Handelsblatt. Nikolas Stihl now supports this move with clear words.
Waiblingen. Businessman Nikolas Stihl is calling for rapid talks between the parties involved in wage negotiations about extending working hours without a pay offset in Germany's metal and electrical industries. The chairman of the supervisory board of forestry and gardening equipment manufacturer Stihl said in Waiblingen to the German Press Agency: "In good times, Germany could afford a 35-hour week.
Currently, we can't do that anymore. And the social partners should be aware of their responsibility and talk about the issue." He said he is now looking particularly at IG Metall, because they ultimately have to make concessions. "But if we're already on the way to losing 500,000 industrial jobs, then we should really do everything to stop the bleeding."
Stihl said further that an extension of working hours without a pay offset would relatively quickly reduce labor costs.
In the midst of the economic crisis, Mercedes management had reignited an old fundamental debate. Chief supervisor Martin Brudermüller suggested in an interview with the Handelsblatt that the company return to a 40-hour week - for the same salary.
In the German automotive industry, the 35-hour week is standard for companies bound by collective agreements - including Mercedes-Benz. It is not legally binding. IG Metall had called for nationwide protests at Mercedes against the company's management's move.
The collective bargaining talks in the metal and electrical industries will start in the fall. "The 35-hour week was agreed upon with severe birth pains. And if you want to turn the whole thing around, the loss will be very great," Stihl said. That is quite clear. "That's why I don't think we'll see a simple collective bargaining round here."
Stihl is counting on pragmatic solutions to the issue. "The closer IG Metall representatives are to the working population, the more they understand the issues." He has concerns about the union's headquarters in Frankfurt. "The positions seem to be very entrenched there and strongly influenced by ideological convictions."
More: Mercedes Board praises Hungary - "Working hours here are higher than in Germany".
Translated by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's report; automated translation may contain errors. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
