It turned out worse than expected.
Instead of a maximum of 500 jobs, almost 1,500 permanent jobs were lost in the German shipbuilding industry in the Corona year 2020, according to a survey on behalf of IG Metall Coast.
And there is no improvement in sight.
Hamburg - The already ailing shipbuilding in Germany is obviously getting into ever greater difficulties. After almost 1,500 permanent jobs had already been lost at the shipyards in the Corona year 2020, a third of the companies are expecting further job cuts in the next twelve months, according to the 31st works council survey presented on Tuesday on behalf of IG Metall Coast. Without including the already threatened jobs at the insolvent shipyard Pella Sietas, at Lloyd Werft and at Blohm & Voss, the number of regular jobs has fallen from 18,115 to 16,653 and is expected to decrease by a further 6.2 percent, “if not something happened ”, warned the head of research at the agency for structural and personnel development (AgS), Thorsten Ludwig, commissioned with the survey.
He spoke of a “pretty shocking result” that was even worse than feared last year. At that time, a decline in the permanent workforce of 400 to 500 jobs was expected. "But Corona and the world shipbuilding crisis hit even harder." The district manager of the IG Metall coast, Daniel Friedrich, accordingly made the new federal government and the state government of the federal state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which was most severely affected by the downsizing, responsible.
No real industrial policy is currently being pursued, Friedrich complained. The shipyards would have to receive financial support linked to their future viability and job security. “We all don't need Lufthansa for shipping”, where the state first helped with several billion euros and the company then nevertheless cut staff. "People don't understand that." Anyone who receives tax money must also be obliged to maintain locations and employment, demanded Friedrich. He sees prospects for the industry in climate-friendly or climate-neutral drives, for example, or in the development and construction of platforms and new types of ships for the offshore wind industry.
The German shipbuilding market is currently dominated by five groups of shipyards - Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, Meyer Group, Lürssen Group, MV Werften and FSG-Nobiskrug Holding. They employ almost 80 percent of all shipyard employees. According to its own information, the AgS questioned works councils in 43 shipyards and locations. Both military and civil shipbuilding were recorded. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania alone, 1029 of 4435 jobs and thus more than twice as many jobs as in all other coastal countries combined have been cut, mainly because of the cruise crisis. Ludwig was convinced that the job cuts would have been even more massive without state aid. Without short-time work, there would probably have been a number of shipyard bankruptcies.
In total, around 91,500 people are employed in the core shipbuilding industry, with the majority - around 63,000 - being employed by subcontractors.
It is noticeable that in the course of the Corona crisis, temporary work has fallen significantly, and the number of employees with work contracts has increased significantly.
So much so that, to the annoyance of IG Metall, there are now more contract workers than permanent employees at some shipyards, said Ludwig.
For a long time now, they no longer just performed special tasks, but also tasks that were actually reserved for the permanent workforce.
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Ludwig painted a dramatic picture when it came to training positions.
Their number has fallen by 41 percent compared to the previous year.
And there is no end in sight.
“We have never experienced that in the last ten or 15 years.” And the takeover rate is also in free fall.
In the past few years, more than 90 percent of trainees had been offered a regular employment contract after completing their training, now it has been only 58 percent.
Friedrich warned employers urgently that if you do not invest in the future of young people, you will lose your own future.
dpa
