The 22nd ordinary federal trade union congress of the trade union DHV, which took place in the Arvena Park Hotel in Nuremberg from 3-5 November 2022 under the motto «Peace, freedom and social security – DHV!», was characterized by the discussion about the consequences of the Russian war of aggression in the Ukraine and concern for world peace. With a large majority, the delegates passed a leading motion in which the federal trade union congress showed solidarity with the Ukrainian partner trade union VOST VOLYA and their fight for peace and the preservation of democratic rights.
In the position paper, the DHV continues to advocate for affordable energy. To this end, the union is calling for the VAT on gas to be reduced permanently from 19 to 7 percent and not just until the end of 2024. In addition, the DHV expects that the VAT on electricity and heating oil will be reduced from 19 to 7 percent.
In addition to the already decided gas price brake, which the DHV believes should not wait to set into place until March, the trade union also believes that there is a need for financial relief for households that heat with heating oil or other energy sources and, in view of the high fuel costs, for an increase in the travel-costs allowance for work to 50 cents per kilometer driven.
The possibility of continuing to operate the last three remaining German nuclear power plants was expressly welcomed by the trade union congress, whereby the limitation of the option to spring 2023, which was set despite the unforeseeable further development of the energy crisis, was considered to make little sense.
Against the background of the onset of the economic recession, the Federal Trade Union Congress welcomed the extension of the regulation on short-time work benefits planned by the DHV main board and called for comparable wage replacement benefits for mini-jobbers as well.
The DHV is concerned about the rental price development in many metropolitan areas. The delegates at the trade union day decided on a motion calling for the tax authorities to stop, or at least limit, the possibilities for tax offices to influence landlords’ rental prices as quickly as possible. Background: In various large cities such as Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, the tax authorities had imposed additional taxes on landlords because they had rented apartments for rents below the local comparable rent.
There were no surprises in the elections to the five-member main board of the trade union. With only one abstention, Henning Röders from Hamburg was confirmed in his office as federal chairman. His deputy, the CGB federal manager Anne Kiesow from Berlin, the chairman of the federal operating group DAK-Gesundheit, Jörg Steinbrück from Berlin, and the Works Council chairman of the DRK district association Geithain, Andreas Müller, were also re-elected with a large majority. The Hanover-based group Works Council chairman of the insurance group TALANX AG with more than 12,000 employees, Matthias Rickel, is new to the main board. Furthermore, the Saarlander Hans-Rudolf Folz was co-opted into the new DHV board.
Source: https://www.dhv-cgb.de/2022/11/09/22-ordentlicher-bundesgewerkschaftstag-der-dhv-berufsgewerkschaft-e-v/ (original German)
