Scholz timber construction company: trade demands changes

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) tried his hand as a craftsman during a visit to a timber construction company in Dresden. Without further ado, he turned a loose screw in the beams of a wooden construction. The short flying visit was otherwise about tangible concerns and needs in the industry. Media representatives were not allowed to attend the final meeting with employees. However, the President of the Dresden Chamber of Crafts, Jörg Dittrich, had already made it clear beforehand which topics he wanted to address.

"Germany is in a recession. Changes are necessary. We don't just need a new tracksuit, we need to train together," said Dittrich, who is also President of the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts. Reducing bureaucracy is one point. This requires courage because it means more trust and less control.

There are many areas where the skilled trades would like to see changes to the framework conditions, said Dittrich. It would be good for Scholz to take a look at this on site. The mood is worse than the situation. The question is how to restore confidence. "In some cases, there is so much anger that people don't even want to speak anymore." In a parliamentary democracy, however, we have to exchange ideas and look for ways forward.

Dittrich lamented a "culture of mistrust" towards self-employment in Germany. This discourages people from becoming self-employed. The documentation requirements are excessive. "What we haven't documented, we apparently haven't done at all. If we then carry out risk analyses for the employment of pregnant women at a particular workplace, but there are no women working in this area of the company, then you can clearly see that we have overdone it." As a further example of excessive bureaucracy, Dittrich cited the mandatory receipt at the bakery.

Founded in 2006, Holzbau Lepski GmbH is a family business with around 30 employees and specializes in the construction of detached houses and vacation homes, as well as daycare centres and roof structures. Together with his son Felix, he showed Scholz a work process in the company. Finally, the Chancellor was allowed to pick up a cordless screwdriver himself. In the evening, he wanted to meet readers of the "Freie Presse" in Chemnitz.