When a new year begins, that usually means attending one New Year's reception after another, especially for representatives of the city and local politics. For Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann, 2018 started with the New Year's reception of the DGB Frankfurt. During his speech on January 13, Feldmann told the guests in attendance, "Trade unions and works councils never lose sight of the fact that not all Frankfurt residents yet benefit from the wealth of our city in the way they deserve, because they work for it." He thanked the representatives of the trade unions for their active commitment to the employees in Frankfurt.
Housing policy was particularly important to the Lord Mayor in his speech: "Those who work in Frankfurt must also be able to afford to live in Frankfurt. Affordable housing is the social issue of the 21st century and we must provide clear answers in Frankfurt. That is why we have initiated a rent freeze at the municipal housing company ABG, initially for five years, and want to extend it to ten years, as well as to the other housing companies NH and GWH. More subsidized apartments will be built in the future. The percentage here should increase even more, especially with the subsidy of the middle-class program for middle-income families, such as employees of the police, in daycare centers or in retail."
The Frankfurt DGB chairman Philipp Jacks welcomes the approximately 450 full-time and voluntary guests from politics, trade unions and society in the trade union house: "The central topic this year for us will be the awarding and control of public contracts. The government coalition in Frankfurt has taken an important step against undeclared work and social fraud by setting up a corresponding control body. Now it is important to staff this control office competently, to carry out strict controls and to severely punish contractors who do not comply with the rules. We don't want our tax money to finance contractors who undermine social standards - and unfortunately there are far too many of them, including in the Rhine-Main area and in Frankfurt."
The guest speaker was Luca Visentini, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation from Italy. In his speech he warned against unfair competition between workers, unemployment and against social exclusion: "Globalization and the economic crisis have led to a political crisis and in the end to a crisis of democracy: this is the root of populism, extreme right and anti-European attitudes and the rebirth of nationalism."
