Beamtenbund boss criticizes state crisis management

Berlin Beamtenbund boss Ulrich Silberbach has called for a personnel and investment offensive for the public service, so that the trust of the citizens in the state does not decrease further. A clear cut is necessary, said Silberbach at the digitally broadcast annual conference of the trade union confederation DBB Beamtenbund and Tarifunion. “If we carry on like this, the shop will simply blow up.”

The public service was “sewn to the edge in terms of personnel and technically got stuck in the day before yesterday,” criticized the Beamtenbund boss. Romania has a better internet than Germany, the Baltic states are completely digitized, and in Mexico you can apply for a new passport in shopping centers and take it with you right away.

One can only dream of that in Germany. Silberbach criticized the fact that there are still many schools in this country without a powerful broadband connection and many teachers without a business laptop.

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The corona pandemic shows where the poor personnel and technical equipment could lead, if, for example, Morocco manages the vaccination better than Germany. Every children’s birthday is better organized than the state crisis management in this country.

Social cohesion is being lost

A state that people trust less and less and that does not serve them as they expect from it, conversely, has to expect less and less from the people. “If the cement of our state structure crumbles with the public service, if the system slowly but surely breaks down into its individual parts, then we lose social cohesion, respect for law and order, solidarity and respect.”

Silberbach accused the political decision-makers in the federal, state and local governments a sometimes “adventurous degree of ignorance” of the needs and requirements of the public service. For example, the employees in the health care system have been fobbed off with a single premium, but are still waiting for the long overdue upgrade of their profession.

The new Federal Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser (SPD), described the civil service as the “backbone of society” when she appeared at the annual conference. Many employees outgrew themselves every day and turned their heads. The working conditions have improved, for example through new allowances, but there is still a need for action, especially when it comes to stress, said the minister.

Nancy Faeser

The new Federal Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser (SPD), described the civil service as the “backbone of society” when she appeared at the annual conference.

(Photo: Getty Images)

When she heard of attacks on public service workers, she was “deeply shocked and disgusted,” said Faeser. At the same time, she made it clear that there was no room for extremists in administrations or the police.

Anyone who is not “firmly on the ground of the Basic Law” has no place in the civil service. The civil service and disciplinary law also give employers tools to take action against extremists.

Digitization should become a core component of training in the public sector

With regard to the digitization of public administration, the Minister of the Interior announced an “honest inventory” of what needs to be done to achieve the goals of the coalition agreement between the SPD, the Greens and the FDP. For example, digitization must become a core component of training in the public sector.

Citizens should also benefit more from digital administrative services. Faeser said that you could not promise that you could apply for your passport in the mall like in Mexico in the future. But she would like citizens to receive a reminder in the future when their ID card expires and then be able to apply for an extension with one click.

When it comes to recruiting young people, the public service often cannot keep up with the private sector in terms of pay, but it can when it comes to issues such as family-friendliness – even if, for example, you can “go a little further” when working from home, said Faeser. The state should not stop to recruit qualified young people: “We want to win the competition for the best minds.”

At the annual conference, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) referred to the increasing budgetary leeway if the debt brake were to take effect again from next year. One then has to set clear priorities on future technologies and the strengthening of the state.

Funding is required in the areas of security, education and public administration. For this to happen, decisions about consumer spending and “redistribution projects” would have to be postponed for the time being. “If you want to invest and make the state capable of acting, other things have to take a back seat,” emphasized Lindner.

More: The new interior minister Faeser wants to go “a lot faster” with digitization

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