BERLIN, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Germany's major metalworkers' union, IG Metall, and the workers' councils of German carmakers called on Monday for immediate measures to improve existing diesel vehicles.
A joint statement released in Frankfurt ahead of the "diesel summit" between the German government and automotive industry representatives on Wednesday, described diesel as an indispensable technology.
The priority of policymakers should thus be to improve as many existing vehicles as possible. It was a crucial task of the summit to set measurable standards, target figures, and time frames in this context.
According to IG Metall and the workers' councils, retrofitting measures should center on newer diesel vehicles. Cars that fall into the older and more polluting categories should be rapidly removed from traffic with the incentive of a new "purchase premium."
The proposed measures are directed at taxis, communal vehicles, and commercial traffic, rather than privately used cars.
The statement also calls for better digital traffic control and the expansion of public transportation, as well as natural gas infrastructure in the short-term.
IG Metall and the other signatories once again emphasized the importance of diesel technology for German employment. The production of diesel vehicles was a higher value-added activity than the production of gasoline combustion engines as it will create more jobs, they said.
Wednesday's "diesel summit" was organized on short notice in July to provide a forum for German policymakers to hold discussions with domestic carmakers over the ongoing "dieselgate" and more recent "auto cartel" scandals.
As a consequence, many automotive industry employees are now worried about their job security.
