I highly approve that we plumbers team up to a cross-borders association, whereas we in Austria don’t really have the problem of plumbers being unknown. At present, the plumber’s occupation is progressing in the direction of “roofers”. Plumbers and roofers have already united in our association (guild), because more and more companies offer the trades as carpenters, plumbers and roofers as one-stop concepts. In the guild we differentiate between branch-specific work programmes, discussion points, decisions, etc. according to occupational classification. In my opinion, the iib should address topics such as standards, regulations and industrial training. After speaking with colleagues, I noted that the search for intelligent apprentices presents a transnational problem. A thinking process in society as well as amongst responsible-minded politicians must be initiated in order to upgrade the reputation of our trade. For that reason, it is important to position the topic in the transnational media. Only then can we assure positive future perspectives. An association of plumbers has enormous work ahead. The time to be active is urgent!
