Germania, economia, gruppi, competiz. int.le
Esplodono i profitti della società Germania
Ludwig Niethammer
L’accresciuta “competitività” della Germania è il risultato
dell’accresciuto sfruttamento dei lavoratori, assieme al ristagno dei loro
salari negli ultimi anni.
Il tasso di crescita del costo del lavoro in Germania è il
minore di quello medio in Europa. Nel 2006 si prevede un aumento salariale medio
in Europa del 3%, contro lo 0.8% in Germania.
Dai primi anni 1990 i sindacati hanno negoziato tagli del salario
reale annuale, e accettato l’aumento delle ore di lavoro non retribuito, e in
generale aperto la porta a peggiori condizioni di lavoro, il tutto in nome
della «difesa della Germania come base industriale»; per anni hanno sostenuto
che solo con l’accettazione di queste concessioni era possibile evitare attacchi
ancora più forti a salari e condizioni di lavoro.
In realtà i grandi gruppi tedeschi hanno tagliato migliaia
di posti di lavoro, senza che il sindacato organizzasse l’opposizione a tali misure;
attualmente risultano eccedenze di personale nei gruppi dell’auto (Opel, VW,
DaimlerChrysler) e nel gigante delle tlc, Telecom.
Ad esemplificare la tendenza: il gruppo Allianz, ha
accresciuto la previsione per i profitti 2006 da €4,9MD a €5,5-6MD, tenuto
conti di 5700 lavoratori da licenziare nel settore assicurazioni e di 2500 per
la filiale bancaria.
Anche il precedente governo SPD-Verdi ha risposto alle
richieste dei grandi gruppi riducendo l’imposizione fiscale, creando un ampio
settore a bassi salari che riguarda ora quasi 5mn. di lavoratori, e con le
leggi Hartz IV che hanno ridotto il welfare e l’assistenza ai disoccupati.
Il governo Merkel sta portando avanti l’opera del governo precedente,
servendosi di ministri SPD (Lavoro Müntefering e Finanza Steinbrück) per
attuare altri tagli al welfare, un’ulteriore riduzione delle imposte sulle
imprese (valore €5MD).
Dal bilancio 1° semestre
2006 di alcune dei maggiori gruppi tedeschi quotati alla Borsa tedesca (DAX):
– BMW: profitti sei mesi 2006, prima delle imposte, + 44,5%, €2,5MD;
– ThyssenKrupp, gigante della siderurgia, secondo trimestre: +
39,7%, €806mn; netti +81% (€468mn.); 8 anni fa ha completato la fusione, e ha
licenziato diverse migliaia di lavoratori, il fatturato è aumentato all’8%,
– BASF, maggior gruppo chimico mondiale: primo semestre 2006, €1,91MD;
Böhringer Ingelheim, maggior
gruppo farmaceutico tedesco, fatturato + 17%; profitti prima delle imposte e
del pagamento degli interessi + 34% (€1MD).
La società specialista di finanza
Factset JCF prevede che le società quotate alla DAX accrescano i loro margini
netti del 12,6%; le società M-Dax, medie imprese, + 34%.
Un portavoce del governo ha confermato un rapporto di Die Welt secondo cui le società tedesche
stanno evadendo le imposte per circa €65MD l’anno.
Inoltre le società evitano legamente le tasse spostando all’estero
i loro profitti.
Secondo i dati di Commerzbank, le famiglie tedesche
dovranno pagare €40MD di tasse in più nei prossimi tre anni. Il commento del
maggior esperto di economia politica di Coomerzbank: «Diversamente dalle famiglie,
le società tedesche non avranno da lamentarsi con la Grande Coalizione».
Wsws 06-08-18
German
company profits explode
By Ludwig Niethammer
The
semi-annual balance sheets of some of the largest companies listed on the DAX (the Deutsche Aktienindex—Germany’s leading stock market
index), released in August, reveal the
extent of the profits bonanza currently being enjoyed by German big business.
The huge increases in profit levels
characteristic of the last several years have continued in the first half of
2006, despite a dramatic jump in oil and energy prices.
The figures released exceeded the expectations
of many financial analysts. Champagne
flowed in the bars near the stock exchanges and in the corporate boardrooms,
while at the same, companies announced plans for further mass redundancies that
will deprive hundreds of thousands of workers of any future.
– Analysts attribute the booming
profits not only to an improved world economic situation, but also to the
ongoing stagnation of wages and salaries in Germany.
– BMW scored a record increase in pre-tax profits of 2.5 billion euros
(US$3.2 billion) for the first six months of this year. This amounts to an increase
of 44.5 percent for one of the most
profitable auto companies worldwide.
– The giant steel concern ThyssenKrupp
was able to record the best quarterly result in its history. In the second quarter, its pre-tax profit rose to 806 million
euros (US$1.03 billion). This amounted to an increase of some 39.7 percent over the same quarter last
year and is being attributed to strong demand and high prices for steel.
– During the same period, the
steel firm’s net profits rose by 81 percent to 468 million euros (US$600
million)—a clear result of drastic rationalisation measures. ThyssenKrupp, which completed its merger
eight years ago, has dismissed several thousand workers and has now increased
its turnover by 8 percent to a total of 12.1 billion euros (US$15.5
billion).
– The world’s largest chemical
enterprise, BASF, also racked up unexpectedly large profits and improved
its balance-sheet by 1.91 billion euros
(US$2.45 billion) over the half-year.
– Germany’s largest
pharmaceutical company, Boehringer Ingelheim, increased
its turnover by 17 percent to a
total of 5.5 billion euros (US$7.1 billion)—principally through the sales of
new, expensive prescription medicines. Its earnings
before interest payments and taxes rose by more than 34 percent to 1
billion euros (US$1.28 billion).
The financial data specialist Factset JCF is predicting that companies
listed on the DAX will increase their net margins by 12.6 percent, and that for
companies on the M-DAX (medium-sized enterprises), an increase of 34 percent in
profits is forecast.
Producing this orgy of profits—or as it is officially called, the rising “competitiveness
of Germany”—are, of course, the companies’ employees
whose daily effort generates these immense values. However, there is also a political reason for
the massive increase in profits and bonuses for managers.
– Despite widespread propaganda over allegedly high wages in Germany,
the economy has now witnessed stagnating
wages for a number of years. Labour costs are currently increasing in Germany at the lowest rate in Europe.
In 2006, wages and salaries in Europe
are expected to rise by an average of nearly 3 percent; in Germany,
however, they will increase by only 0.8 percent.
– Since the beginning of the
1990s, the German trade unions have negotiated cuts in real wages on an annual
basis, while agreeing to increased hours (unpaid) and generally opening the door
for ever more intolerable conditions of work—all in the name of “defending Germany as an
industrial location.” For years, the trade unions
have argued that only by accepting such concessions is it possible to prevent
even sharper attacks on wages and working conditions.
– In close co-operation with the trade unions, Germany’s major companies have
wiped out hundreds of thousands of jobs. These mass redundancies are currently
taking place in the auto industry—at Opel, Volkswagen, DaimlerChrysler—and at
telecommunications giant Telekom, and the trade unions have done nothing to oppose
them.
The Allianz
Company is the best example of the extreme forms this development has taken.
The insurance company based in Munich
increased its profit prognosis for 2006
from an original 4.9 billion euros (US$6.3 billion) to 5.5-6.0 billion euros (US$7.1-$7.7
billion). Company executive chairman Helmut Perlet proudly announced last week
that the corrected estimate took into
consideration redundancy payments to the 5,700 workers due to be axed in
the insurance division and the 2,500 in its banking subsidiary.
The consequences of trade union subordination
to the profit sheets of big business are now very evident. While many large
companies have racked up gigantic profits, the constant cuts in wages have done
nothing to secure jobs, nor have they led to a let-up in the drive by companies
for even greater profit maximisation, which has reached new dimensions in line
with the globalisation of production.
Business and industry have not only relied on
the reformist trade unions. Germany’s former Social Democratic Party
(SPD)-Green Party government faithfully obeyed the commands of the big business
lobby during its seven years in power. Those included drastic cuts in company taxation, the creation of an extensive low-wage sector, which now
embraces nearly 5 million workers,
and the punitive Hartz IV laws,
involving sweeping cuts in welfare and unemployment assistance.
In the face of popular discontent and growing
resistance to its antisocial policies, the Gerhard Schröder-led SPD-Green
government responded to a further demand from the business elite and cleared
the way for early elections and the assumption of power by the current “grand
coalition” (Christian Democratic Union—CDU, Christian Social Union—CSU and
SPD).
– The regime headed by Angela Merkel of the CDU is now pushing ahead
with the work of her predecessor in an intensified fashion. She relies on SPD
ministers such as Franz Müntefering (labour) and Peer Steinbrück (finance) to
play leading roles in enforcing further cuts in social spending.
– The government is planning a
new tax gift for business estimated to be worth 5 billion euros (US$6.4
billion), which, taking into consideration a recently published report, can
only be described as perverse.
– The federal finance ministry undertook its own investigation into
company profits, and the results have just been made known. A ministry spokesperson confirmed a report published
in Die Welt that, based on an internal government document, revealed that German companies are evading
paying taxes to the tune of some 65 billion euros (US$83 billion) a year.
Companies
use entirely legal loopholes to avoid paying corporate tax in Germany by shifting their profits
abroad. This transfer of profits has been an accepted
practice for years and was tolerated by the SPD-Green government.
– According to figures from the
Commerzbank, private households in Germany will be
expected to pay out an additional 40 billion euros (US$51 billion) in taxes
over the next three years. Eckhart Tuchtfeld, leading political economist
for Commerzbank, explained with evident pleasure: “Unlike private households, Germany’s
companies will have nothing to complain about under the grand coalition.”