BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s automakers and unions urged the government on Thursday to do more to support the industry’s shift to electric cars, which provide less assembly work than combustion engine vehicles.
State-backed employment schemes should support retraining and short-term working hours should be exempted from social insurance contributions, according a proposal published by German Employers’ Association Gesamtmetall.
An umbrella fund should also be set up to help companies with the cost of the overhaul. Stakeholders would pay into the fund, the proposal said, without giving details.
The plan was discussed at a summit attended by German union IG Metall and car industry bosses in Berlin on Wednesday.
“Even if there is no economic recession or crisis, a coordinated approach between social partners and the state is required to strengthen Germany as an industrial location and to offer employees a perspective,” Gesamtmetall said in a statement.
Electric cars…
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