Berlin Craftsmen need a reliable basis if companies are to advise customers on installing a heat pump or additional insulation. The fact that the heating law cannot be passed by the Bundestag as planned this Friday after the intervention of the Federal Constitutional Court is therefore not so bad for Jörg Dittrich, President of the Craft Industry.
Because many questions are still unanswered – and for the master roofer from Dresden the principle “thoroughness before speed” applies. Privately, Dittrich still has a gas heater. But preparations for the district heating connection have already been made on his street.
Mr Dittrich, the Bundestag actually wanted to pass the heating law on Friday, but the Federal Constitutional Court has now stopped it for the time being. Is the law a botch or a successful compromise?
We said from the start: This law needs intensive consultation; a “whip through” is forbidden. After all, the law is intended to set the course for the heating sector for decades to come. But only a few days were planned to obtain the expertise of the associations and from practice. The same applies to parliamentary deliberations. A lot of trust was lost there. After all, the current version of the law contains two core requirements of the trades – openness to technology and interlocking with heat planning.
Doesn’t the decision and the further delay bring even more uncertainty? What does it mean for the craft?
We would not have had real planning security if the law had been sealed on Friday. Because a whole series of questions is still unanswered – for example on the funding framework that is to accompany the heat transition and its financing. And the actual heat planning law is not yet available.
Politicians would now be well advised to use the time until autumn to first complete the funding concept and heat planning in an orderly process, and then to launch a coherent overall package with appropriate transition periods that will enable companies to offer their customers reliably to advise and implement it. Hence my appeal to politicians: to heed the principle of “thoroughness before speed” all the more in the case of a legislative project of such scope.
Would you have a new gas heating system installed tomorrow?
Personally, I wouldn’t do that, but I’ve heard from member companies that they’re having their hands full installing gas heating because a lot of people are unsure.
The government relies primarily on the heat pump …
In the end, it only pays off if the electricity price drops as hoped without having to subsidize it permanently. Because ecology according to the motto, whatever the cost, will not lead to success. The energy transition must remain affordable.
>> Read here: District heating often makes heat pumps superfluous
The government now wants to help the energy-intensive industry with a subsidized electricity price. Is that justified?
The competitiveness of the location is also under great pressure because of the high energy costs. We urgently need an affordable and reliable energy supply for all companies, because many craft businesses in particular – especially the energy-intensive ones – are dependent on it. The baker cannot simply turn down the temperature of his oven during the baking process, and the master also needs to know which energy source to plan with.
According to Dittrich, a heat pump only pays off if the price of electricity drops permanently, as hoped.
(Photo: epd)
The climate and heating transition is an economic stimulus program for the trades. But do you actually have enough people who can install heat pumps or solar systems?
There is currently a shortage of around 250,000 skilled workers across all trades, and that is why we have to talk about vocational training and its financing, as well as a noticeable reduction in bureaucracy. And if politicians want qualified craftsmen for the energy transition, then the federal government must not reduce the funds for inter-company apprenticeship training from 70 million euros to 59 million euros, which is not exactly lavish anyway, as the plans now envisage.
Does the craft itself have to change too? Can partial qualifications help, for example, or does anyone who wants to install heat pumps first have to go through three years of training?
We shouldn’t do without comprehensive training for the job profile of sanitary, heating and air conditioning technology just because we urgently need installers for heat pumps. For this, as for other complex activities, qualifications are required that impart sufficient knowledge and skills.
In the case of pre-qualified employees from the trades or other areas, this may perhaps be less extensive. Even well-suited immigrants cannot be expected to go through a comprehensive training first. For these people, we must therefore think more in terms of building blocks and partial qualifications, but at the same time offer them the prospect of full qualifications and degrees.
What is the situation with the handicraft sector at the moment?
According to our surveys, most companies are doing well at the moment, but the future prospects are not rosy, which has to do primarily with the cost increases due to wage increases, but also due to increased material costs and, above all, due to ever-increasing social security contributions. And more than half of our craft businesses are involved in construction, which is currently threatening to collapse.
>> Read here: The housing industry only expects 200,000 apartments per year
So the craft no longer has a golden bottom?
Yes, in the long term. Skilled trades offer excellent prospects and opportunities. Artificial intelligence will support the craftsman, but cannot replace him when he is installing the photovoltaic system, for example. This may look different in other areas. So we can radiate security.
However, this argument does not seem to catch on with many young people, because craft businesses provide disproportionately high levels of training, but have difficulties finding enough young professionals.
We overdid it with the education mantra of getting as many young people as possible to study. We urgently need skilled trades for the transformations in energy and mobility, for digitization and the expansion of infrastructure; we will not be able to do it with academics alone. And unfortunately there are still the long outdated prejudices that manual trades are strenuous, dirty and poorly paid. But that’s no longer true.
In the hairdressing trade of North Rhine-Westphalia, the wages in the lowest wage group have been raised by an impressive 25 percent, but at EUR 12.65 they are only just above the statutory minimum wage.
When it comes to hairdressers, we are in the lower wage spectrum of the trade in terms of collective bargaining. Many master hairdressers pay more, many would like to pay their employees more, but the business models do not allow it because hardly anyone is willing to pay significantly more for a haircut.
What do you say to the sometimes sharp criticism of the latest decision by the minimum wage commission, which only came about with the vote of the commission chairmen?
I’m really worried that the minimum wage will keep becoming a political pawn. Because then the social partnership that has made us strong will be undermined.
Wages are one thing, rising social security contributions are another. Finance Minister Lindner also wants to consolidate the budget with cuts in federal subsidies for health, nursing care and pension insurance. This threatens to increase social security contributions. What do you think?
This is a great danger for the labor-intensive trades, because its services are so expensive that there is a risk of unaffordability in one place or another. The financing of our social systems must be put to the test. Unfortunately, no one dares to approach it – probably also out of consideration for the upcoming elections.
You just mentioned construction. What needs to be done to ensure that more is built again?
If the slump that we are experiencing in the construction industry had only started to happen in industry or in the banks, we would already have the third round of the crisis in the Chancellery. We urgently need to sit down with politicians and look for solutions together.
What do you have in mind?
Accelerate planning and approval procedures and ensure a reliable funding framework and generally better framework conditions for taxes, social security contributions and bureaucracy. A lot is also conceivable, from a reform of the real estate transfer tax to financial support for home ownership to the promotion of social housing construction. I am most worried about the large social middle, which can no longer afford to own property today.
Mr. Dittrich, thank you very much for the interview.
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