In May last year, the Council presented its first report, which was strongly influenced by the experiences of the pandemic. Gradually abolish mini-jobs, better protect the self-employed and make further training a mainstay of the education system – these were the recommendations of the committee, which is made up of scientists, trade unionists and works councils as well as employers. However, things didn’t really work out with the employers’ representatives.
Bettina Volkens, formerly responsible for human resources on the Lufthansa board, Janina Kugel, in the same position at Siemens, and Uschi Backes-Gellner, professor of business administration in Zurich, soon lost interest in the time-consuming and rather moderately remunerated advisory work. Like Kugel, Volkens, who had been proposed by the Confederation of Employers’ Associations (BDA), was fundamentally opposed to state intervention in the labor market. The two resigned in spring 2021, as did Backes-Gellner. Last March, entrepreneur Iwer Jensen left the council.
Science is represented by five people in the new council: Melanie Arntz, digitization expert at ZEW, was also a newcomer, as were Berlin political scientist Wolfgang Schröder and Sascha Stowasser, director of the Institute for Applied Work Science in Düsseldorf. New council members are also HR manager Franz Donner, Anna Kaiser from Tandemploy, a Berlin company that develops work software, and Alexandra Friedrich, works council member at the medical technology company B. Braun in Melsungen.
With Sinischa Horvat (BASF) and Mathias Möreke (VW), two other works council members belong to the Council of the World of Work. There are also Isabel Rothe, President of the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Michaela Evans from the Institute for Work and Technology in Gelsenkirchen, Sabine Pfeiffer, sociologist at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, and Ulrich Walwei, Vice Director of the Institute for Labor Market and Occupational Research (IAB). Möreke, who was proposed for the council by the German trade union federation, takes on the role of speaker in the group of twelve. In terms of social partnership, the deputy speaker should be nominated by the Confederation of Employers’ Associations (BDA). But the BDA finds no one. The idea of ​​sending Oliver Zander, General Metal Managing Director, could not be implemented. But Heil is patient and gives the BDA time.
“Our job market is changing rapidly. In addition to the current challenges such as the Corona crisis and the gas shortage, digitization and an aging population are presenting us with new challenges,” said Heil on Tuesday. Employees must be prepared for this change so that they can also do the work of tomorrow . The Council of the Working World offers the “six new outstanding experts
important recommendations for action”. According to the current planning, the Council will present its next report at the beginning of February; it will primarily deal with digitization and artificial intelligence.
