Status: 09/10/2022 3:48 p.m
There could soon be a shortage of gas in Germany. Gesamtmetall boss Wolf is therefore appealing to employees to work from home. This would allow companies to save electricity and costs. IG Metall has doubts.
In the event of a gas shortage, the President of the Gesamtmetall Employers’ Association, Stefan Wolf, relies on the willingness of employees to accommodate them. “I believe that there are many employees who try to save the company electricity and thus costs and secure their jobs by working from home,” Wolf told the dpa news agency. “I expect that too.”
Down to 18 degrees?
How dramatic the situation will be will only be known in the fall, Wolf continues, when it is clear whether Putin will turn off the gas completely. He fears that the Russian President “will do it and it will hit us hard.” Then you have to pull out all the stops.
The companies would have done everything that goes to savings. With temperatures in offices, however, they are bound by the workplace ordinance. “One should think about whether the workplace ordinance should be changed again and we can go down to 18 degrees,” Wolf continued. Currently, 19 to 20 degrees are set as the minimum value in work rooms in which most people sit – depending on the difficulty of the work.
“Will have to roll back claims”
IG Metall boss Jörg Hofmann said: “Mr. Wolf would certainly prefer to see his production employees in his plants.” He also has the greatest doubts that it is really more energy-efficient if a large number of employees work at home and consume electricity and heat energy there, Hofmann continued.
“And it’s about saving energy in a crisis and not about saving for the company.” In addition, switching off and reheating larger buildings uses more energy than heating them up. There are more than doubts here.
Wolf specifically demands that people have to rethink. “We have to think about how we can even maintain the wealth that we have.” So far, it has always been about permanently increasing prosperity. “We will have less available and will have to scale back our claims.” He is firmly convinced that we can get through this crisis: Certainly not in 2023, but maybe in 2024 or 2025, says Wolf.
No requirements for private business
Due to concerns about possible energy bottlenecks, savings targets came into force at the beginning of the month, which are intended to reduce consumption over the next six months. For workplaces in the private sector, the ordinance does not stipulate that room temperatures in offices, for example, have to be reduced.
However, it is made possible for employers to heat less in the commercial sector with legal certainty and have the opportunity to follow the example of the public sector. This is the basis for voluntary commitments by companies and company agreements to save energy.