Unions Appointed to Advisory Council of the Continental Institute of Technology and Transformation

• Leading representatives of IG Bergbau, Chemie and Energie (IG BCE - mining, chemical and energy industries union), and IG Metall (metalworkers’ union) appointed to the new advisory council of the Continental Institute of Technology and Transformation (CITT)
• The seven-member council comprising representatives from unions, associations and the science community connects important stakeholders and enables future-oriented transformation
• Executive Board member for Human Relations, Dr. Ariane Reinhart: “Transformation is successful only in close cooperation with social partners. Through direct dialog, we will jointly define the strategic alignment of our training measures and utilize impulses from the science community, business and politics even more intensively
• By the end of the year, 1,500 participants are expected to complete future-oriented training measures in CITT; at present, 664 participants have already completed their training

Hanover, Monday, March 8, 2021. Continental has created a voluntary advisory council for its Institute for Technology and Transformation. In the institute it founded in 2019, Continental offers qualification opportunities for all employees. The advisory council consists of representatives from associations, politics, and the science community. Francesco Grioli, member of the Central Board of Executive Directors of the IG BCE (Germany’s mining, chemical and energy industries union), was appointed as the council’s alternating chairman. The purpose of the advisory council is to connect key stakeholders more closely and provide a communication platform for supervision of and discussions about transformation measures. “Transformation is successful only in close cooperation with social partners, the science community and politicians, and we are very pleased with the top-class composition of our council. In direct exchange, we can jointly define the strategic alignment of our training measures and thus utilize impulses from the science community, business and politics even more intensively,” said Continental’s Executive Board member for Human Relations, Dr. Ariane Reinhart, who is also a member of the council.

“The creation of the CITT Advisory Council strengthens the cooperation between the employer and social partners. Together, we can create a space in which the challenges presented by the transformation can be overcome,” said council chairman Grioli. Christiane Benner, the second chairperson of IG Metall, and who is also a member of the advisory board, added: “IG Metall supports the CITT concept, as we need to create future prospects on a large scale through further training for employees.”

The seven-member council also includes the deputy chairman Dr. Martin Kuhlmann, director of the Soziologische Forschungsinstituts Göttingen (SOFI); Professor Friedrich Hubert Esser, president of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training in Bonn; Johannes Pfeiffer, chairman of the regional directorate for Lower Saxony and Bremen of Germany’s Federal Employment Agency; and Maike Bielfeldt, managing director of the Hanover Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

With CITT, Continental has established a center of expertise for shaping the transformation in Germany. “We foster the needs-based retraining of employees, setting important impulses for training programs – even at the locations affected by restructuring measures. Our measures are geared toward professions that have a future. In this way, we want to maintain the employability of employees on the job market,” Reinhart stressed. This concept is for them the only way to successfully stay competitive and to keep production-related jobs in Germany wherever possible. “We can tackle this challenge only by working together with all those involved.”

In a first step, unskilled and semi-skilled employees are given the opportunity to obtain certified qualifications from the German chambers of industry and commerce (Industrie- und Hammelskammer – IHK) as process mechanics for rubber and plastics technology, mechatronics engineers and industrial electricians. By the end of 2020, a total of 664 participants at 17 locations had taken advantage of the training program. Last December, Ariane Reinhart and the chairman of the German Federal Employment Agency Detlef Scheele honored the first top trainees in a virtual event. In addition, needs-based qualification opportunities for the approximately 17,000 skilled workers and 31,000 graduate employees in the areas of augmented and virtual reality, robotics, 3-D printing as well as agile methodology and digital skills will be expanded. According to the plans of CITT, the number of participants will pass the 1,500 mark by the end of this year.