Short Summary in English About us

Gesamt­me­tall is the Fede­ra­tion of German Employ­ers‘ Asso­cia­tions in the Metal and Elec­trical Engi­nee­ring Indus­tries (M+E). Founded in 1890, the fede­ra­tion repres­ents the common interests of Germany’s largest indus­trial sector.

Gesamt­me­tall aims to improve indus­trial relations and working condi­tions, and thus the perfor­mance of the German M+E indus­tries. This is crucial for creating and securing compe­ti­tive jobs in Germany. Gesamt­me­tall speaks for 22 member asso­cia­tions repre­sen­ting more than 7,100 companies and 2.4 million employees.

The fede­ra­tion is headed by its President Dr Stefan Wolf (CEO/Chairman of the Manage­ment Board of Elring­Klinger AG). Director General is Oliver Zander. Gesamt­me­tall employs a staff of over 50 at its Head­quar­ters in Berlin and its Liaison Office in Brussels.

The M+E indus­tries are Germany’s key indus­trial sector. It generates a turnover of more than 1,3 trillion euros a year in more than 25,600 companies with a total of around 3.9 million employees.

The companies generate most of their turnover by manu­fac­tu­ring capital goods. Two thirds of products and services are exported. The M+E indus­tries are largely made up of small and medium-sized enter­prises. Over two thirds of the companies employ fewer than 100 people; only two percent have a workforce of over 1000 employees. The largest M+E sectors are mecha­nical engi­nee­ring, the auto­mo­tive industry, metal-working, elec­trical engi­nee­ring and the precision mechanics/optics/clocks sector.

Gesamt­me­tall analyses the economic climate, devises stra­te­gies for collec­tive bargai­ning, coor­di­nates nego­tia­tions with trade unions, provides support in the event of indus­trial action, and helps companies implement collec­tive-bargai­ning agree­ments. However, the concep­tual work is not limited to bargai­ning rounds. Gesamt­me­tall is also conti­nuously working on ways to improve the collec­tive-bargai­ning system itself.

Gesamt­me­tall voices the M+E indus­try’s positions on social policy at national and European level. The focus is on sustainably financed social security systems and keeping compa­nies’ admi­nis­tra­tion costs at a decent level. Gesamt­me­tall supplies its member asso­cia­tions with know-how on matters such as pension schemes for employees, health policy and social security. Gesamt­me­tall is also actively involved in shaping social policy. Examples include the founding of the Metall­Rente pension fund and a collec­tive agreement that enables employees to use part of their salary for their pension plans.

Gesamt­me­tall is involved in designing and revising job profiles for voca­ti­onal training. It funds a number of projects to improve training and STEM capa­ci­ties of the next gene­ra­tions, for example in mathe­ma­tics and science. Parents, teachers, young people and the public are informed in many ways about jobs, career prospects and the necessary requi­re­ments for voca­ti­onal training in M+E companies and the whole industry.

As an example, our 10 M+E-InfoTrucks offer 80m² of teaching space, weight 32 tons and are 18 meters long. They are in action at schools all year round to get young people exited about STEM careers.

Gesamt­me­tall formu­lates and publishes the positions shared by the M+E indus­tries on all important issues. Our messages focus on putting across entre­pre­neu­rial positions and explai­ning the indus­try’s views. In this context Gesamt­me­tall seeks the dialog with the media based on mutual trust.

Gesamt­me­tall repres­ents the interests of the M+E indus­tries in all matters of collec­tive bargai­ning, social policy, and education policy at the European and inter­na­ti­onal level. It also provides its member asso­cia­tions with compre­hen­sive infor­ma­tion in terms of labour standards abroad, the posting of workers, and the evolving landscape of education policy within the EU.

Gesamt­me­tall and its members asso­cia­tions are deeply convinced that the European inte­gra­tion as well as the comple­tion of the European single market is not only highly bene­fi­cial for the citizens of Europe but also a simple necessity in an excee­dingly compe­ti­tive world. The legis­la­tive compe­tence on social and education issues should remain at the national level. None­t­he­less, the number of European legis­la­tive initia­tives in the field of social policy and education has increased consi­derably in recent years. EU-legis­la­tion in these fields is affecting the core business of Gesamt­me­tall and its member asso­cia­tions to an ever greater extent. In many cases, these initia­tives represent a serious threat to the compe­ti­tiveness of the whole industry, the freedom of asso­cia­tion (autonomy of collec­tive bargai­ning) protected by article 9 of the German Basic Law, and the autonomy of national education systems. In line with the principle of subsi­dia­rity, Gesamt­me­tall respects that there are no compe­tences at the EU level for education policy, but continues to monitor and respond to EU initia­tives that may impact the education as well as the social policy sector.

Via its Brussels office, Gesamt­me­tall repres­ents the interests of the German M+E indus­tries vis-à-vis the European insti­tu­tions. To this end, Gesamt­me­tall colla­bo­rates closely with its European umbrella orga­ni­sa­tion Ceemet and its affi­liated asso­cia­tions in 18 countries.