Two women lead IG Metall Munich: “That is not yet a matter of course”

AZ interview with Sibylle Wankel and Stefanie Krammer: Wankel (58) is a lawyer and has been the first authorized representative of IG Metall since 2021 Munich . She has been with the union since 1997. Krammer (34) was elected second representative in March. The political scientist was chairwoman of Jusos Bayern from 2017 to 2019.

AZ: Ms. Wankel, Ms. Krammer, you two form the first female dual leadership at IG Metall Munich . How unusual is that today?
SIBYLLE WANKEL: It was already unusual a year ago when I was elected as the 1st authorized representative. Stefanie was already the cashier, and that was something special, two women in the management of IG Metall Munich , which felt new and good. With the election of Stefanie as the second authorized representative, a new era begins. This is not yet a matter of course within IG Metall either. There are very few double heads, Erlangen is the only other one in Bavaria, and nationwide maybe two or three more offices.
STEFANIE KRAMMER: For me it’s something special that everything worked out so well with the election. I became a mother eleven months ago. The fact that IG Metall is making it possible to pursue a career during this phase makes me a little proud.

The proportion of women in management positions at IG Metall has increased to 30 percent

Why did it take so long for women to get into management positions at IG Metall?
WANKEL: On the one hand, women are still in the minority when it comes to membership – this is also due to the favorable structure of our branches. There are very few sectors in which significantly more women work, such as textile production, which is in Munich practically not represented. But the proportion of women in management positions at IG Metall has increased significantly. We are now at almost 30 percent, which is significantly more than the proportion of women among the politically convinced and among the membership. This has also been promoted by dedicated funding in this area. When I started as a lawyer with the IG Metall regional management in Bavaria in 1997, I had a small child myself, and that was extremely unusual. You were asked if you could work properly at all.
KRAMMER: I’m also often asked how much I work now, and when I say “full-time”, people often ask “how?” That’s still not something that can be taken for granted.

“It’s still a very hierarchically male-dominated working world”

As dual leaders, do you both have the right to promote more self-evidence?
WANKEL: Definitely. That’s very important to me because, as a woman, I’ve experienced for many years how difficult it is to assert oneself at all, and the framework conditions simply have to improve. For example, that leadership can be shared in particular. That you don’t negotiate something every night until twelve or three in the morning, but that you can set time limits. It’s slowly getting better, but it’s still a very hierarchically male-dominated working world.

What points have you still made that you want to achieve?
KRAMMER: Our works council members bmw have enforced a shared leadership agreement – that one can split leadership roles into part-time jobs. It is very important to normalize the fact that men also work part-time and do care work – because they are still looked at wrongly if they take parental leave for more than two months.

Ms. Krammer, as a young woman, do you also want to get young people in particular interested in the trade union?
KRAMMER: In any case, I started out as a youth secretary. The generation that is coming now is very political. Therefore, one can win over the good guys to the trade union movement through the idea of ​​solidarity.

IG Metall has opened up towards the environmental protection associations

Do you see a change in mentality there, also through movements like Fridays for Future, that young people have a different attitude than they did 15 years ago?
KRAMMER: You have become political and stand up for your own interests. On the one hand there is climate protection, but also good working conditions and how to get the work-life balance right.

WANKEL: It helps that we at IG Metall have opened up to the environmental protection associations. We don’t always agree, for example on the question of when diesel engines should still be around. (laughs) But the exchange also helps in the social debate – for example, a colleague of ours spoke at demonstrations of Fridays for Future. Not all of our works councils think that’s great, but I’m convinced that we as IG Metall, as a trade union, can only make progress if there are alliance partners with whom we can advance joint projects.
KRAMMER: The only way to create mutual understanding is through mutual exchange. We have a joint youth seminar of IG Metall youth, Fridays for Future and Jusos to bring different perspectives together and maybe develop common goals. There can be new parks downtown, but there must also be more industrial jobs in the city.

Companies become fully independent of supply chains from Asia

Directly opposite your office, refugees from the Ukraine are standing in front of the Office for Housing and Migration. Torn supply chains, the famous harnesses – how much is the war affecting your member industries?
WANKEL: That has a very strong effect. Both major automobile manufacturers in Munich , bmw and MAN are directly affected by the wiring harnesses, even if there are sources of supply in other European countries. The mere focus on costs takes revenge here – the companies have made sure that they source the supplied parts as cheaply as possible, and the producers are now located in countries that are not among the most stable.

Do you see a trend towards de-globalization, a return of production sites closer to home?
WANKEL: What I don’t see is that there is a massive shift back to Germany. The companies want to become a little more independent of supply chains from Asia, but I don’t see cable harness production being brought back to Germany. This is a lot of manual assembly, a wiring harness is not built by a robot. This train has left. It would be helpful to say in general that things are kept in Europe, but of course that also presupposes that stable geopolitical conditions are achieved in Europe.

Back to the effects of the war – what else could be dangerous for the economy?
WANKEL: The topic of neon is very important – you need neon to manufacture semiconductors. Ukraine is one of the largest neon suppliers in the world. We have direct effects there that can lead to new bottlenecks in the semiconductor industry.

How are the jobs?
WANKEL: Unemployment hasn’t been an issue so far, but of course you need prospects. And there are companies that didn’t care enough about supply chains after the pandemic that are now having additional difficulties. A very problematic scenario would be a gas embargo. That would have dramatic effects on our economy that cannot be controlled at the moment, as both employers and we say.

IG Metall leadership sees opportunities for Scottish refugees on the Munich job market and in the surrounding area

There may also be positive effects. There are also workers coming Munich – do you think that a good integration of Ukrainian refugees is possible?
WANKEL: I think so. bmw has already announced that they want to shut down this year in a big way because things are going so well. The language barrier is not that big in this area. I believe that there are opportunities on the Munich labor market and in the surrounding area.

Most corona restrictions have now been lifted, the daily number of infections is still at a very high level – are your sectors over the mountain or are there still heavy burdens?
KRAMMER: There are still massive absences from illness in the companies, the supply chains were not all at the pre-crisis level before the war against Ukraine, so the effects are still resonating there. This is an incredible burden even for those who are not ill and have to keep production running. That must be reflected in the collective bargaining round.

How do you see the future – when we meet again in a year, will everything be better?
WANKEL: I expect that we’ll get employment here at a very good level Munich can hold. There are good opportunities for this in the companies for which we are responsible.
KRAMMER: And if we could say: yes, inflation was high, but the tariff increase was even higher.

This article was written by Martina Scheffler