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7 October, 1999Delegates are addressed by the leaders of their union and by the leaders of the German state.
GERMANY: One of the highlights of the metalworkers' congress, in Hamburg, was the keynote speech given by Klaus Zwickel. With a strong mandate of 87% of the votes, the newly re-elected president of IG Metall made an analysis of the state of the union and set its major goals for the four-year period up to the next congress. A chief priority, which has already put him on a collision course with the SPD government, was the need to lower the retirement age to 60 as a means to fight youth unemployment. This and all forms of shortening working time would allow possibly 3 million workers to leave the workforce, opening up job possibilities for the young. Their collective bargaining system had to be reformed as well as the organisation of the union, in order to make it a more effective pressure group. Another vital need for IG Metall was to increase its international activities and cooperation, in Europe and worldwide, so that the trade union movement would strengthen its role as a major player in globalisation.
After warmly receiving German President Johannes Rau earlier in the week, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, on arrival at the Hamburg congress hall, was greeted with boos and whistles by the delegates due to the open conflict between union and government over the severe austerity programme and the question of lowering the retirement age. Schröder stressed there was no alternative and he needed continued support by the union for his "Alliance for Jobs" tripartite forum. With the enormous debt inherited from the previous Kohl government, radical savings had to be made, and he pointed out that numerous trade union demands had been realised in the year since he came to power. Schröder appealed to IG Metall, on the basis of values common to both the SPD and union, for their critical solidarity with government policy. Even though Schröder did receive a firm round of applause after his 40-minute speech, the majority of IG Metall delegates insisted on a tough union position.
Among many policy decisions, one of the most significant at the congress concerned equal rights for women in the organisation. With a two-thirds majority, a paragraph has been introduced into IG Metall Rules obliging all bodies of the union to have women members in a number corresponding to their share of the membership.
The congress, which opened on October 3, ends on October 9.
After warmly receiving German President Johannes Rau earlier in the week, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, on arrival at the Hamburg congress hall, was greeted with boos and whistles by the delegates due to the open conflict between union and government over the severe austerity programme and the question of lowering the retirement age. Schröder stressed there was no alternative and he needed continued support by the union for his "Alliance for Jobs" tripartite forum. With the enormous debt inherited from the previous Kohl government, radical savings had to be made, and he pointed out that numerous trade union demands had been realised in the year since he came to power. Schröder appealed to IG Metall, on the basis of values common to both the SPD and union, for their critical solidarity with government policy. Even though Schröder did receive a firm round of applause after his 40-minute speech, the majority of IG Metall delegates insisted on a tough union position.
Among many policy decisions, one of the most significant at the congress concerned equal rights for women in the organisation. With a two-thirds majority, a paragraph has been introduced into IG Metall Rules obliging all bodies of the union to have women members in a number corresponding to their share of the membership.
The congress, which opened on October 3, ends on October 9.