Siemens CEO at ZEIT Reception Davos: “We are not going to let Görlitz down”

At an event hosted by the German weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT and CMS on 24th January, Joe Kaeser commented on the downsizing of Siemens in the energy sector: “We are not going to let Görlitz down. We are not going to let those people down.” Siemens has a social responsibility, CEO Kaeser said, but “if nothing happens 3.000 are gone, because life unfortunately is about reality and if I have no orders, if fossil power generation goes down because of the rise of renewables, I do need to act”.

The Siemens CEO went on to say that due to the fourth industrial revolution Siemens will lose 3.000 jobs in the next two to five years, but will create about 15.000 jobs in the same period of time: “Wouldn’t the natural thing be to talk to each other about how we can give those 3.000 people an opportunity through requalification, through whatever is possible to do to have a future for Görlitz? And that is exactly what we are going to do”, said Kaeser. “We are going to help those people and give them a future, but we need to act together to get this done.”

In conversation with Uwe Jean Heuser, DIE ZEIT’s Economic and Business Editor, Joe Kaeser also commented on the criticism of Martin Schulz and his open letter: “I did not have a fight with the head of the Social Democrats, I just wanted him to get the facts right, because he’s been relying on maybe alternative facts.”

The ZEIT Reception Davos was held on the occasion of the World Economic Forum in Davos. DIE ZEIT in cooperation with CMS invited leading representatives from the worlds of business and politics to a roundtable discussion and reception.

For more information regarding the event: www.convent.de/davos