Ahead of the nationwide action day organized by the IG Metall union in the automotive sector, VDA President Hildegard Müller is calling on unions and employees to demonstrate a greater willingness to adapt. In a guest article published in the Handelsblatt, Müller stated that those who refuse to recognize this reality in the face of the ongoing crisis are “denying reality.”
Workers are set to protest on Monday against proposed austerity plans and potential job relocations. Müller, however, issued a caution against rigidly maintaining the status quo. She argues that international competition necessitates changes from all parties, asserting that manufacturing in Germany is “not a natural law,” and factory utilization is “not automatic.”
The VDA President points to high labor costs and shorter working hours in Germany as primary competitive disadvantages. She provided data illustrating these differences: an hour of labor in the German automotive industry costs nearly 65 Euros, compared to 24 Euros in the Czech Republic and 18 Euros in Poland. Furthermore, annual working hours differ significantly: the average in Germany is around 1,300 hours, while in the Czech Republic it is 1,800, and in Mexico, it exceeds 2,000 hours.
