New metalworking employers' associations in eastern Germany

In March 1998, the metalworking employers' associations in the eastern German federal states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia founded a new employers' association, Ostmetall.

On 17 March 1998 the metalworking employers' associations in the eastern German federal states of of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia founded a new employers' association known as Ostmetall. All three member associations remain independent, but for the future it is planned that the three will merge into Ostmetall. The new association is part of the national metalworking employers' association, Gesamtmetall.

The aims of the new association are to:

• search for solutions on how to develop the region within the framework of collective bargaining partnership (Tarifpartnerschaft);

• pool employers' interests in the three eastern German states;

• improve the conditions for industry in order to create new jobs; and

• use organisational synergy effects and to be more effective and cost-efficient for members.

Ostmetall also intends to cooperate closely with the two other eastern German metalworking employers' associations in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Ostmetall regards itself as part of the federal structures of Germany and as being representative of the interests of the enterprises concerned in economic policy, social policy, labour market policy and collective bargaining.

As its first action, Ostmetall rejected demands from the metalworkers' trade union, IG Metall, to introduce the 35-hour working week in the eastern metalworking sector. According to Menfred Kreutel, president of Ostmetall, this would mean the creation of metalworking jobs not in Germany but abroad, and would very likely lead to the end of industry-level collective agreements in eastern Germany.