So far, the construction of the Ministry of Construction has been rather disorderly.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin The SPD has a lot to show for itself in its history: the statutory pension and health insurance, women’s suffrage, the eight-hour day, continued payment of wages in the event of illness and: co-determination. “Social Democracy has achieved all this. All of this goes back to their triad of values: freedom, justice and solidarity,” the Social Democrats praise themselves.
Klara Geywitz is a social democrat and minister of the newly created Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building. For months, not even three dozen employees there have felt as if they were setting up a start-up, working according to the motto: 24/7, had to get laptops from other ministries, had no access to the intranet and only limited internet access.
Mobile phones were missing, let alone company cars, as was a budget and with it the jobs, for example for internal administration or drivers. A strenuous, but also exciting phase, no question – if the value compass of the Social Democrats had not been lost.
After the Bundestag finally approved the budget for 2022, more than 300 employees will officially move from the Federal Ministry of the Interior to the new Ministry of Construction this Tuesday. What could be considered the starting signal for a new project, however, causes plenty of frustration right from the start.
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The reason is the staff council election in the new ministry. It doesn’t take place in August or later, so that all colleagues can vote, not just the few people from the construction team, but everyone from the former departments for urban development and housing as well as construction, construction industry and federal buildings of the interior ministry.
The election has already taken place. Protests from the Ministry of the Interior in advance died down in the management floor of the new building. “We feel betrayed,” says the workforce.
Management level staff council election
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Construction confirmed that the staff council election took place on July 14. Since there were only 30 voters, the staff representation now consists of three people – including an employee of the head of the central department. When setting up the house, he will always be dependent on the approval of the committee.
Concerned employees had already appealed in a letter to the minister in May: only the election of a joint staff council “offers the chance of a sense of unity”. But if only a fraction of the employees choose, then “a split in the house is to be feared”. The procedure does not contribute to peace in the company. The letter is available to the Handelsblatt.
Such a small staff council is “far too small to represent the personnel matters of up to 450 employees”. The members are not exempt, and there is no office. Ironically, during this important set-up period, they “couldn’t deal intensively with the processes”.
The undersigned recalled that the minister had promised in December to wait with the election. Only when all employees are formally working in-house and all new positions have been filled should there be a choice, she explained. Until then, the staff council of the Ministry of the Interior should remain responsible as a transitional staff council.
But then, according to the head of the central department, there was a “majority desire” among the few employees to hold staff council elections as quickly as possible. The cooperation with the transitional staff council was terminated.
Lack of appreciation for decades
Employees have long been part of the bargaining chip when governments are formed and have been complaining about a lack of appreciation for many years. In 1998, for example, when the first red-green government began work in the federal government, the experts in urban planning, spatial planning and construction lost their independence and had to move to the Ministry of Transport. In 2013 there was a decree to move to the Ministry of the Environment. In 2017, the CSU then remembered home in view of the successes of the AfD in rural areas and combined construction expertise in the coalition negotiations with the interior department. And now an independent house again.
The management around Minister Geywitz cannot complain about a lack of appreciation – at least not during the budget negotiations. According to the draft for 2023, the budget will increase to five billion euros. Above all, Geywitz will receive 122 more jobs in addition to the officials from the interior department, bringing the total to 552. Nine staff councils would actually be planned for this, including one full-time officer. But there will probably not be a new election any time soon. According to the law, the new staff council has two years to stand for re-election in view of the sharp increase in the number of employees. The spokeswoman for the house also referred to this when asked.
At least one small team-building measure is planned for autumn: The employees have to move to another building, to the former building of the “Bild” newspaper in Berlin’s Mitte, they say. In eight years it will then go back to the current building, which will then be completely renovated, just one street away. But the question is circulating among the workforce: “Will we still exist?”
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