In order to save Germany’s automobile sector, which has been hard hit by the Covid-19 crisis and the transition to electric vehicles, should working hours be reduced by reintroducing a four-day working week with a “certain level” of wage compensation, as recently proposed by IG Metall boss Jörg Hoffman? Or, instead, should the industry rely on measures to reduce working time without offering wage compensation, as in the collective agreements recently signed at Daimler, Bosch and ZF Friedrichshafen? This debate in Germany comes after the federal government’s recent announcement that it intends to extend the current short time working arrangements until December 2021.
Protecting jobs amid a gloomy backdrop. How many jobs in the German automobile sector could be destroyed as a result of the Covid-19 crisis? Though some experts, such as the renowned Professor Ferdinand Dudenhöffer of the University of Duisburg, have put forward a potential figure of 100,000 jobs – equivalent of almost one out of every eight roles in the industry – there is not yet reliable data to harness. From the point of view of the companies in the sector, however, the prospects are gloomy.
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