Savings program and increased efficiency thanks to electric cars also at Daimler temporary workers first

dossier

“The chairman of the works council at Daimler in Untertürkheim states: “E-mobility is increasing the pressure on future returns for car manufacturers and the need to optimize costs.”(…)Daimler and Porsche have therefore launched new “savings programs” worth four and six billion euros respectively. If the focus of the programs is “increasing efficiency in production”, then that is just a nice way of saying that increasing rationalization and work rush. Employees must therefore prepare for a tightening of the course. A key method at Daimler is the outsourcing of units and production steps to an unprecedented extent. The steel foundry and processing of turbocharger housings in Mettingen will be eliminated, and seat production in Hulb in Sindelfingen...” Post from August 17, 2018 at Rote-Fahne-News (“Car companies react to falling profit rates – “austerity programs” stand for increased rationalization and increased workloads”) – see nationwide and for individual locations:

• “I'm standing here today because, like you all, I'm slowly starting to get fed up!“: Speech by Sven Vaith at the works meeting at Mercedes-Benz Hamburg on September 8th
  “Dear colleagues, I am Sven Vaith, I work on the assembly line in Hall 16. And I'm standing here today because, like you all, I'm slowly starting to get fed up! Everywhere at Mercedes the exploitation screw is being tightened. But we workers create the approximately €3 billion that was paid out to shareholders as dividends! (…) Before we went on strike for just one day for our legitimate wage demands, the Mercedes board and the Merz government declared a frontal attack on our living conditions: Together they want to extend working hours to 40 hours, without wage compensation. (…) Colleagues, we have to go on the counter-offensive with our own counter-demands – clear and loud: a hefty wage increase because of the sharply increased prices! Everything is becoming more expensive. 30-hour week with full salary compensation! (…) Now comes September 21st! IG Metall is calling for a nationwide day of action across the entire automotive industry. This is our chance! Let's use this day - and if we have to, we'll make it a nationwide union strike day!..”Text of the speech by Sven Vaith , Hall 16, assembly line, at the Mercedes-Benz plant Hamburg works meeting on September 8th, 2026
  • See also the dossier:Resistance to the consequences of the profit crisis for the car workforce is growing
• Open letter to the Federal Chancellor of the trust body leadership of IG Metall at Mercedes-Benz “not as a supplicant to you, but as a partner”: Stop the class war from above!
  “With their open letter to the Federal Chancellor, the IG Metall trust body leaders at Mercedes-Benz express the growing uncertainty and dissatisfaction among employees caused by the federal government's attacks on the welfare state and workers' rights. The open letter in full:(…)
  In exchanges with the employees at the Mercedes-Benz Group locations, we as trust body management of IG Metall are currently experiencing very clearly how the political discussions about pensions and working hours are being received in the companies. As colleagues worry, anger grows. Anger that the very people who keep this country running day after day should pay for the crisis.
  We keep hearing the same message from politics:
  Apparently we are to blame for the problems in the German economy. We are too lazy. Too expensive. Sick too often. And that's why we should now pull the cart out of the mud again. We should work longer. Retire later. And dig deeper and deeper into your own pockets when it comes to healthcare. At the same time, tens of thousands of industrial jobs are expected to disappear in the coming years. All of this is a direct attack on us workers and on the future of our children!
  We are particularly critical of the discussion about further raising the retirement age. (…)
  Another key point is partial retirement. For many years it has been a proven instrument for making industrial change more socially acceptable. It helps to secure employment, avoid redundancies, organize generational change and create planning security for employees and companies. Anyone who weakens partial retirement deprives the industry of an important instrument for structural change. That's why it's clear to us: partial retirement must stay!
  We are also following the discussion about weakening the Working Hours Act with great concern. The eight-hour day is not an outdated rule. It is one of the greatest social achievements of the trade union movement. (…)
  Longer weekly and longer working hours lead to fewer jobs, higher unemployment and falling purchasing power. This means no growth can be generated. (…)
  With respect, Mr. Chancellor:Only someone who has never worked on an assembly line could come up with such quixotic “reform” plans; who can't imagine what it's like to stand in a foundry in the scorching heat; who has no idea what it means to have to continue working until retirement despite a herniated disc and chronic pain. (…)
  You have the opportunity to take a different path. A path that is based on the interests and reality of life of the employees.
  That's why we don't turn to you as a supplicant, but as a partner:We see the urgent need to stimulate our economy in Germany, because without a functioning economy - without large companies, without medium-sized businesses - there are no jobs in this country. But we also see that the path to get there will at the moment bypass us employees. We therefore appeal to you: Do not continue the course of class struggle from above, but listen to the people in this country - listen to their voters…”Open letter from the trust body management of IG Metall at Mercedes-Benz dated July 28, 2026 at IG Metall Stuttgart
  • See oppositeResolution of the IG Metall shop stewards Mercedes Benz Untertürkheim: "Stop now. Protest, resistance, strike! The bosses want class struggle? They can have it!"
  • and the dossier:Trade unions, social cuts and resistance: almost 25 years of theory and practice
• IG Metall’s “Hot Summer” Part 1 at Mercedes-Benz: 33,000 colleagues protest against unpaid extension of working hours – will more heat-free campaigns follow? 
  • Mercedes: Tens of thousands of employees are protesting nationwide: clear words instead of appeals
    “…My colleagues don't want to put up with this. They expressed their resistance in militant rallies and announced further actions. Michael Claus, deputy works council chairman at the Untertürkheim plant, spoke to around 2,000 colleagues at the rally in Mettingen about a general attack on social standards and collective agreement achievements. He was particularly upset about the attack on working hours, because even longer working hours would destroy even more jobs. Claus calculated that his colleagues themselves paid for the reduction in working hours from 40 to 35 hours, which occurred in the 1980s and 1990s. During this time, tariff increases remained well below inflation and below productivity growth. A 12.9 percent collective wage increase between 1985 and 1995 was offset by 27.9 percent inflation and productivity. Now the 40-hour week without a wage increase should result in double cash. That's wage theft and you'll go to jail for theft, says Claus.
    When CEO Ola Källenius announced that he wanted to examine all salary modules and special payments, Claus responded with his own suggestion: “Shouldn’t we check whether we can still afford this board?” He received a lot of applause for this. Claus also did not leave out the question of rearmament: the attacks on social achievements in pensions, family insurance, partial retirement and health are the downside of the fact that over 40 percent of the federal budget is being pumped into the war machine. He reported on the fight in 1996 against the attacks on continued payment of wages in the event of illness by the government under Chancellor Helmut Kohl (see also page 17) and by the then CEO of Daimler-Benz AG, Jürgen Schrempp. The latter had implemented the government's cut in sick pay from 100 to 80 percent at Daimler despite collective agreements to the contrary. According to Claus, this was only prevented by widespread strikes at the time - and it is now necessary to do so again in order to fend off this general attack on our collective bargaining standards and social benefits. What is now needed is a “general mobilization”, a bringing together of the struggles in the automobile industry. "A general strike is needed. You don't have to call for it, it just happens if you want it," Claus continued. He also received a lot of applause for this statement. Before he made it, he swapped his IG Metall peaked cap for a Cuban cap with a red star.
    The chairwoman of the youth and trainee representatives also spoke out against the waiver policy and asked, to great applause, when the board would finally do without. She spoke out against extending working hours because it would steal time for family, children, health and life. “Without a strike, nothing will change,” was her final sentence…”Report by Christa Hourani in the UZ from July 10, 2026 
  • Action day at Mercedes-Benz:  “Instead of going back to the 40-hour week, we’re going to shorten it to 30 hours.” – 33,000 employees in the auto industry issue a warning
    "In order to send a clear signal, over 33,000 Mercedes-Benz employees marched in front of the factory gates of their locations. "Hello management: That's not how it works! While shareholders profit more than decently, should the employees sacrifice their contractually stipulated rights? Certainly not!" emphasized Christiane Benner, first chairwoman of IG Metall, who traveled to the employees at the Düsseldorf location.
    Significant savings are to be made at Mercedes-Benz – at the expense of the employees. Company leaders believe that employees should work five more hours a week without receiving a cent more money. At the same time, they are postponing the payment of the transformer module due in July until April next year - with the reservation that the payment will be canceled entirely."The company's approach massively unsettles and demotivates many colleagues. Instead of creating prospects for locations and employment, pressure is built up," criticized Ergun Lümali, chairman of the general works council, in front of factory gate 7 in Sindelfingen. (…)Employees in the automotive industry are tired of haphazard CEOs gambling away their future - together with IG Metall, they are resisting clear-cutting. Mercedes-Benz employees started on Friday. They took to the streets in a nationwide day of action: in Kuppenheim, Rastatt, Sindelfingen, Untertürkheim, Bremen, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Ludwigsfelde and Germersheim. It's the start. IG Metall and the employees of manufacturers and suppliers will give the leaders of the auto industry a hot summer and autumn as long as they continue to focus on job cuts and relocations instead of looking for real solutions to problems…”Report from IG Metall from July 3, 2026 
  • See also reports from IG Metall StuttgartMettingen ,Sindelfingen andUntertürkheim – but see also thisReport from Berlin 
  • According to rf-news.de IG Metall is calling for a (what else?) motorcade in Stuttgart on Thursday, July 9th - nowhere to be found
  • There's a fire at Benz: Nationwide IG Metall mobilization against unpaid overtime at the car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz - further protests announced
    “…According to IG Metall, around 20,000 workers left Stuttgart for the largest Daimler‑The factory in Sindelfingen had its workplaces on the assembly line on Friday morning. A company spokesman confirmed to jW production losses during the protests. But they could be “captured promptly.” According to the dpa news agency, Mercedes sees the actions as “work stoppages”. A company statement says smugly: "We respect that the works council is commenting on the productivity offensive." How did the employee representatives react? "The employees do not agree with the board's plans and the dismantling of the welfare state," said group works council leader Ergun Lümali to the dpa.More rallies during the Mercedes‑Early shifts were organized by the union and works council in the south of the Federal Republic of Germany - for example in Untertürkheim, Rastatt, Kuppenheim and Germersheim. There were also actions and protests in the north - for example in Bremen and Hamburg. And last but not least in the federal capital…”Article by Michael König in the young world from July 4th, 2026 
  • [Sol flyer] Day of action at Daimler: Consistent fight against social and job cuts! Work meetings, work stoppages, strikes
    “The Mercedes bosses want to take back the 35-hour week that they fought for in long strikes in the 1980s and would prefer to extend working hours to 40 hours. At the same time, they are reducing special payments. Plans to close four more plants are already emerging in the VW Group. The job cuts in the entire auto industry coincide with the largest general attack by the federal government under Merz and Klingbeil against the interests of wage earners: abolition of the 8-hour day, retirement at 70 and lowering of the pension level, abolition of the block model for partial retirement, ... the list is getting longer and longer. Massive resistance from the unions is necessary!
    Up to and including the strike!
    "We are committed to our union and demand that demonstrations against the greed of the bosses, against the government and for a better future be organized as soon as possible. Up to and including a strike." With this call, the shop stewards at Mercedes in Untertürkheim launched a wake-up call at the end of June. IG Metall then called for a nationwide protest in front of all Mercedes plants. But that can certainly only be a start. Protests need to be increased, not just outside of working hours. The board members and major shareholders understand no other language than that production is not continuing. Strikes should be prepared. Works meetings could be held immediately, which would actually lead to production stops. Given the announcements, these are necessary anyway because there are many questions and a need for discussion. It would therefore be appropriate if company meetings lasted several days at all locations. (…)
    Stop giving up!
    The announcements by the car bosses make a common strategy necessary for the fight to preserve all jobs. Unfortunately, the IG Metall leadership does not yet have a plan for a consistent fight. On the one hand, there are now calls for protests – due to pressure from below. On the other hand, on June 29, 2026, the Handelsblatt published a joint statement by the IG Metall chairman Benner and the president of the employers' association BDI Leibinger, where it was said: "Industrial associations and industrial unions are together ready for an agenda for a sustainable Germany - which reduces costs, including those caused by the state, and increases work volume and productivity." This is the same old story again that says that waiving wages and increasing productivity at the expense of employees are a means of securing jobs. The opposite is the case! Not doing so doesn't save a single job, neither at Mercedes nor at Mahle nor at VW. (…)
    Transfer to public ownership
    The deep crisis in the auto industry calls for a discussion within the IGM to be held about saving jobs by transferring all “companies that determine the market and the economy into public ownership” (Section 2 of the IGM statutes). Anyone who lays off people and wants to continue to benefit from massive wage cuts or extensions to working hours should be dispossessed. (…)
    We suggest:
    – Organize resistance across plants and companies.
    – Trade union action conferences
    – Extraordinary company meetings with no time limit
    – Nationwide protests, demonstrations and work stoppages
    – International trade union solidarity as an antidote to renunciation and job cuts…”Sol leaflet from July 3, 2026 
• “IG Metall will give company leaders a hot summer and autumn”: The first to take to the streets on the action day on Friday, July 3rd are colleagues from Mercedes-Benz (but “Important: clock out!”)
  • Day of action at Mercedes-Benz: Employees in the auto industry issue a warning
    “The employees in the automotive industry have had enough. They will no longer allow themselves to be made scapegoats when management errors and geopolitical conflicts are the cause of the crisis. Mercedes-Benz employees are the first to take to the streets. It is the start of a hot summer and autumn.
    Significant savings are to be made at Mercedes-Benz – at the expense of the employees. Company leaders believe that employees should work five more hours a week without receiving a cent more money. At the same time, they are postponing the payment of the transformer module due in July until April next year - with the reservation that the payment will be canceled entirely.
    Savings programs, job cuts, relocations, factory closures: decision-makers at automobile manufacturers and suppliers are providing bad news all over Germany. They cut 50,000 jobs in the automotive industry last year - and it will continue that way if they have their way. But they forget one thing: the employees are not to blame for the misery. The general works council of Mercedes-Benz makes this clear (…)
    It is time for the decision-makers in the automotive industry to finally take responsibility and develop real strategies for the future, instead of leading traditional companies into insignificance with austerity programs: “Competitiveness comes from innovation, technological strength, attractive products and, above all, from the competence of the employees - not through blanket shifts in the burden,” explains the Mercedes-Benz General Works Council. (…)
    Mercedes-Benz employees will start on Friday. They take to the streets in a nationwide day of action. It's the start. IG Metall and the employees of manufacturers and suppliers will give the leaders of the auto industry a hot summer and autumn as long as they continue to focus on job cuts and relocations instead of looking for real solutions to problems. As long as rumors continue to come from the Wolfsburg boardroom that VW wants to cut an additional 50,000 jobs in addition to the planned job cuts, as long as suppliers close their factories and relocate production, as long as companies like BMW dominate the headlines with announcements about cost reductions, IG Metall will mount massive resistance.”Report from IG Metall dated July 1, 2026 
  • A welcome move by IG Metall, although the opposition is directed against the fact that “the employees should now once again bear a significant part of the burden” - more shared suffering could possibly weaken the fight for “competitiveness”...
    Rallies are planned in front of the factory gates in Berlin between 10:30 and 11:30 (“Important: clock out!”) - taken from the poster of the shop stewards in the Berlin work “Gegenwehr now!” in:
  • Fight back now! Out in front of the factory gates of all German Mercedes plants on Friday!
    “…Months ago in Berlin Marienfelde, over 400 colleagues expressed their expectation of the IG Metall leadership to finally adopt a militant approach in the automotive industry and also to mobilize for strikes.
    Heated political debates are taking place in companies. Common arguments are questioned. Some examples.
    Securing profits to preserve jobs? Or doesn't every cent that employees forego in favor of profit turn against them? Doesn't the collected capital always go to where it can best be increased by squeezing out workers?
    Mercedes has reaped staggering profits in recent years. What are they doing with it? Didn't e-mobility and battery production fall behind because the greed for the special extra profits due to written-off investments with combustion engines was too great? (…)
    “Why is there a duty of peace only for us?” Why are capital and the state allowed to break promises and regulations and constantly increase prices and taxes? The companies are citing changed framework conditions. Why do only the employees have to maintain the “price” for their commodity, labor, even though the conditions have changed enormously here too? “Why shouldn’t we be allowed to strike?” This was discussed in Bremen and Düsseldorf in view of threatened labor law consequences by the company. And what kind of power relations are these when even the unions are not even allowed to directly call for a strike next Friday?
    On Friday there will finally be a nationwide uniform campaign by IG Metall in front of all the factory gates. Mercedes Benz. The noble brand with the star believes it can roll back many hard-fought trade union achievements.
    The call from IG Metall states:
    – Fighting to maintain the 35 hour week
    – Stop attacks on income and special payments
    – To preserve our jobs in all German plants
    Against the background of the massive attacks by the company, but also by the politics driven by capital interests, this action can only be a prelude to averting the deepest social cuts among employees…”Contribution by Peter Vlatten from July 1, 2026 in the Trade Union Left Forum Berlin 
• Mercedes Bremen: No special payment, but warnings because over 500 colleagues decided to go heat-free after their lunch break (protests also in Düsseldorf)
  • Hundreds of workers on strikes and BR-Info in the early and late shifts at Mercedes-Benz Düsseldorf
    “On Friday, the horror news from the board shook up the entire corporate workforce in one fell swoop.
    When asked whether we should go on strike directly or whether it is allowed, a colleague said: “If someone hits you, no one asks first whether they can defend themselves, right?!”
    The exciting question was how everyone processes this individually over the weekend. However, our experience with more and more attacks, fights and lazy compromises shapes a class-like approach. On Monday morning, a great pent-up need for information had to be met by all works councils. So it happened that around 350 colleagues stopped work at the same time and marched to the works council office. The works council members present emphasized above all that they had never experienced an attack like this before and that we as the corporate workforce would work together to prevent it.
    There was a real sigh of relief for such combative statements: “Finally!” Colleagues demanded that we in Düsseldorf should refuse any overtime because we currently work 8 hours a day, plus one Saturday per shift per month, then it's a 48-hour week. The answer to that was that we shouldn't go it alone. That wasn't entirely convincing. Surely the sole purpose is that we work longer in Düsseldorf?! “We want to hurt them too,” was heard more than once. After about 35 minutes, the colleagues went back to work.
    The second strike was in the late shift, with around 250 colleagues. Here, too, the combative mood and anger were very high; one heard more than once: “If they want war, they’ll get it.” A colleague highlighted the fact that it is no coincidence that VW and Mercedes-Benz are attacking at the same time. "That's why we have to go on strike not just company-wide, but also industry-wide and beyond! All workers together, because we are all affected.”…”Correspondence message from June 29, 2026 on rf-news.de 
  • The genie is out of the bottle: Mercedes workers at the Bremen plant are taking a “break”!
    “At some point the measure is full. At Mercedes Benz. One savings program follows the next. Shifts towards Eastern Europe. The permanent workforce is being cut, and temporary workers are increasingly being used. Plant closure in South Africa. In announcement: No immediate continued payment of wages in the event of illness and working 5 more hours without additional wages. (…)
    And now as an immediate measure: the special collective bargaining payment for 90,000 of the approximately 108,000 employees is to be canceled for this year.
    It has long been clear that there is a simmering situation among automobile workers.
    The warning signs from the Mercedes workforce are increasing. In Berlin Marienfelde, over 400 colleagues from the IG Metallführung called for more consistent mobilization to fight the attacks. Last week, the Mercedes Benz Stuttgart Untertürkheim shop stewards passed a resolution entitled “Stop now. Protest, resistance, strike”.
    At the end of the week, colleagues at the Bremen plant took action. On Friday a leaflet said:"Hello, colleagues on the late shift! The early shift is not welcoming you in full strength today: Over 500 colleagues in Hall 9 decided during the lunch break that our children have no heat and we have to take care of it. The overheating is due to the board's demands on us: We should work longer and wages should be cut. At the same time, the government is discussing pensions at 70 and other massive cuts in the areas of health, pensions, education,... Not with us!!! Send yours Trustees to the meeting at 1:30 p.m. So that you too can discuss whether being away from the heat is worth it for you too: At 36°C on a Friday afternoon.”
    The message has now reached us. The resistance of colleagues was immediately followed by repression from the company. Warnings are said to have been issued. This concerns all colleagues across the entire group. This requires a closed answer. All warnings must be withdrawn immediately!..”Contribution by Peter Vlatten from June 29, 2026 in the Trade Union Left Forum Berlin with the graphic of the leaflet
  • Heat-free at Mercedes: Recent attacks by Mercedes on employees' labor rights have caused overheating. This caused production to stop in Bremen
    “The news spread like wildfire through the companies on Friday morning. Mercedes-Benz is tightening its austerity measures. At midday, production at the Bremen plant came to a standstill. The early shift employees took their lunch break and did not return to their workplaces. (…)
    In a letter to employees, the board informed them that the special collective bargaining payment for 90,000 of the approximately 108,000 employees was to be canceled this year. As an immediate measure. This is no small feat, because the special payment expected for July is 18.4 percent of the regular individual monthly salary. But that's not all.
    Management's further threats are also not going down well with the workers. A year ago, Mercedes responded to falling sales and profits with a savings program. Now it is said: Germany as a location has lost a lot of its competitiveness. (…)
    “We will radically accelerate processes at Mercedes-Benz and slim down established structures,” it continued. Hours of work must become cheaper. “The most direct and, in our opinion, fairest way: We should work more for the same money in all areas,” said the board. At the beginning of last week, Mercedes supervisory board chairman Martin Brudermüller had already suggested a return from the 35- to 40-hour week in an interview with Handelsblatt.
    In the background, there is currently a competition in the German Mercedes plants for the approximately 30,000 units that could be distributed to other plants if the Mercedes plant in South Africa is closed, explained Gerwin Goldstein, former works council at Mercedes Bremen, to jW on Sunday. Because the threat of closing a plant is also looming in this country, there is a risk that plant management and works councils will agree to worsening working conditions - in return for additional quantities from South Africa.
    In Bremen, a large part of the permanent workforce was replaced by temporary workers. Of around 10,000 in production, around 2,000 are temporary workers. They are usually in the works for four years. Then there is a selection of the best and about 120 are adopted. It is a negative deviation from the so-called temporary employment law, which the local works council had approved. The situation meant that things were generally quiet at Mercedes in Bremen for years, said Goldstein. But with the new austerity announcements on Friday, overheating was apparently achieved.
    And in fact there is already a works agreement in Bremen in the event that the Bremen plant receives units from South Africa. This includes: an increase in the proportion of temporary workers. When asked about this, Goldstein says that such an agreement alone is a betrayal of the workers in South Africa. And also those in Germany.
    The colleagues on the late shift didn't go out into the heat on Friday despite 36 degrees Celsius. This week, however, their solidarity will be required. The human resources department has already announced that it will issue warnings if it finds out who has turned their back on work in these hot conditions.“Article by Susanne Knütter in the young world from June 29, 2026 
  • See also the one mentionedResolution of the IG Metall shop stewards Mercedes Benz Untertürkheim: "Stop now. Protest, resistance, strike! The bosses want class struggle? They can have it!"
  • And we remember 2020:Conflict with heat stress: Open letter from the trust body management at the Daimler plant in Wörth
• Mercedes Berlin Marienfelde: "Regular staff out, 150 temporary workers in? Let's not let ourselves be divided!"
  “We will all become available, including the core workforce, if we allow there to be second and third class colleagues. The more temporary or temporary workers, the more maneuverable the capital side is and the more vulnerable we all are to blackmail. It is crucial that the majority of the core workforce recognizes this and puts pressure on it. Unity, worthiness and the future of the employees belong together. The future requires defensiveness, defensiveness requires unity among employees. The permanent workforce out, 150 temporary workers in? Let's not let ourselves be divided! New hires only direct and permanent!
  The plant management (WL) claims: In order to start up the axial flux motor (AFM), at least 150 temporary workers must be hired - initially limited until the end of the year. At the same time, the job cuts in the core workforce continue in accordance with Target Image 2.0. Many colleagues rightly see this as a slap in the face. Driving out colleagues for years and now not enough people for the AFM start-up? “The bottom line is an exchange of the workforce,” said many people. Eliminate relatively good industrial jobs and bring in insecure second-class jobs. What is this division?! At the same time, around 200 colleagues who are assigned to the company's "employment office" have not been transferred to the departments in which they are assigned for ages - in some cases for two years. This state of constant uncertainty is supposed to wear us down. (…)
  The use of temporary workers requires the approval of the works council. But the BR's personnel commission has already approved the deployment of the first 53 temporary workers. They have already been sent by DEKRA and Randstad and are being trained. For many, this is not the first time they have been used in the factory. We have already worked on the OM642 with some of them.
  If they need workers, then they should hire properly and stop cutting jobs! It is high time for our union to take action on the following demands:
  – Stop the job cuts in the factory!
  – Close the employment office! Transferring all colleagues to their current departments!
  – Permanent takeover of the temporary workers already deployed!
  – The BR must refer all future applications for the use of temporary workers back to the WL with the demand: new hires only directly and for an unlimited period!…”Contribution by Peter Vlatten from February 13, 2026 at unionliche-linke-berlin.de – or the documentation of a leaflet?
• Mercedes-Benz / Daimler Truck: The big temporary worker bluff 
  “Temporary work in production was pushed through ten years ago despite the protests of the workforce. The most hypocritical lie was: “It protects the core workforce.” Some regular colleagues still believe this today. But if a temporary worker has been working here for seven years, he is part of the tribe! And how can one speak of “protecting” the core workforce when an entire night shift and their jobs were eliminated when around 1,000 temporary workers were laid off in 2020?! These jobs are missing in the location and in the future for the youth! That's why caution is advised now: If the number of units increases again, temporary workers will be hired again. But at the same time, around 200 colleagues are retired every year and only around 40 trainees follow. By 2035, Düsseldorf's workforce will be halved. ... If you want to fight for the future of the location, you have to do it together with the temporary workers!“Article by the Düsseldorf editorial team in the current issue of the newspaper by colleagues for colleagues at Mercedes-Benz and Daimler Truck, “Bumper” –documented on December 30, 2025 in the Rote-Fahne-News 
• [Daimler-Benz Mannheim] From the life of a temporary worker: About trembling and fearing about contract extensions, probationary periods and 50 sudden dismissals
  “…I've been a temporary worker for a long time. My wife says: too long. We were really happy about the contract with Benz a year and a half ago. The hourly wage is good compared to before. Sure, the permanent employees who do the same work get more. Of course that's not fair. The constant trembling and fear about the contract extension really gets on my nerves. We are always informed shortly beforehand. The deadline for the employment office has long since expired. One always hopes for a permanent contract. Now this hope should no longer end after two years, but after three years. Daimler had his own rules. Thereafter? Then maybe a two-year contract. If things go well, a permanent contract after a total of five years. But of course there's still a probationary period. Because you haven't already proven that you work reliably for five years... At the beginning of the year the good news: extended until August 31, 2025! My master even gave me permission to take a vacation in the summer. The first summer vacation in four years! … Then the termination on May 31, 2025. Not just me. 50 other colleagues too. Just like that. There are just too many of us. Some people were even on the verge of a permanent contract because the two years of temporary work were over. This can't be a coincidence. A contract extension with Benz is probably no longer worth anything because we can all be terminated within four weeks anyway!
  The bumper demands: permanent employment of all temporary workers! Away with the special right of termination for temporary workers!“Article from the colleague newspaper “Die Bumper” at Rote Fahne News on July 23, 2025 (“Daimler-Benz Mannheim: From the life of a temporary worker”)
• Works meeting speech by Sven Vaith at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Hamburg: "The peace movement and the climate justice movement are already fighting for a different future. And us? We have to join in!"
  “I'm Sven Vaith and I work at iSG Montage in Hall 12.
  We are here today at a time when job destruction in the automotive and supplier industries has become the bitter norm. While the top management earns billions in profits and shareholders enjoy increasing dividends, we are concerned with the substance. The first people who always have to believe it are our temporary worker colleagues who work just as hard as we do, but with fewer rights, less security and sometimes less pay. (…)
  As we perform every day, our share of the pie becomes smaller and smaller. And what is the company doing? He focuses on maximizing profits – whatever the cost. But this greed has consequences: it makes the class division in society increasingly clear. More and more people are being left behind while a small elite line their pockets. Many companies in the metal and electrical industries now want to profit from the armaments madness - financed with our tax money! Money that could instead flow into reduced working hours, a good healthcare system, schools and daycare centers. But war does not bring prosperity - it only brings death and destruction. (…)
  The peace movement and the climate justice movement are already fighting for a different future. And us? We have to join! Because a real future for the auto industry means moving away from the individualized luxury car madness and towards sensible products such as public transport solutions and trams. Every reason speaks for it - only the capitalists' interests speak against it. They always say times are bad. But it's not the times that are bad - the balance of power is!…”Speech by Sven Vaith at the works meeting on June 24th. at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Hamburg
• Works meeting at the Mercedes Benz plant in Hamburg on March 25th: "... what was agreed here is not a safeguard for the future. It is a curtailment of the future..."
  “…Today I would like to talk about the agreement between the board of directors and the general works council, which should open all of our eyes - not because it is so great, but because it shows how careful we have to be if we do not take our interests into our own hands. The agreements between the Mercedes board and the general works council, including the one that is being sold to us as “future security” until the end of 2034, is a lazy compromise that is intended to cost us colleagues a loss of wages again, while the shareholders, who are after all the owners of this company, line their pockets. This year, shareholders can once again look forward to a dividend of around 4 billion euros. But let's take a closer look: With this agreement, the general works council also automatically approved all further plans to relocate production and outsourcing. This means we no longer have control over where and how our work takes place in the future…”Text of the speech by Sven Vaith , Hall 12, iSG Manufacturing, works meeting at the Mercedes Benz plant in Hamburg on March 25, 2025
• “Fought for you”: Not just waiving the complete tariff increase in the savings program at Mercedes-Benz in exchange for 5 years of longer “employment security”
  • Fought for you: ZUSI extended until 2035!
    “In the negotiations surrounding the Next Level Performance (NLP) cost-saving program, management and the General Works Council (GBR) were able to agree on a key points paper after many strenuous discussions, which will be fleshed out in general works agreements in the coming weeks. IG Metall member bonus is coming! Profit sharing remains! Anniversary money remains! Poison list largely averted!…”BRisant from March 2025 on March 4th, 2025 – Information for employees at the Mercedes-Benz Sindelfingen location – at IG Metall at Daimler
  • No redundancies for operational reasons until 2035: Mercedes agrees on savings program with works council
    "Mercedes-Benz has agreed on a savings program with the general works council in order to become more competitive. It affects around 91,000 employees in Germany. Mercedes has agreed with the works council on savings and job cuts, the company confirmed to SWR on Tuesday. There should be no operational dismissals, but there should be a severance program for Mercedes employees in Germany.
    Severance payments according to the principle: “double voluntary”
    This is not aimed at those working in production, but rather at those in administration. Mercedes has not provided any information on how many jobs will be eliminated. The so-called double voluntary nature applies to the severance payment program. This means: employees and companies must agree.
    Waiver of a complete tariff increase
    In addition, employees are foregoing around half of the planned wage increases in the metal and electrical industries. In return, operational dismissals would be excluded until 2035 instead of the current 2030. Mercedes employees are also required to take more vacation days. Previously, they could have their money paid out in six to eight days. Management should also save money: this year there will be a zero round of salaries. Since the business figures are poor, the bonuses will probably also be lower.
    Relocation to Hungary
    Mercedes-Benz wants to save costs in production. Therefore, production is being relocated to the factory in Kecskemét in southern Hungary, which opened in 2012. Mercedes can produce 70 percent cheaper there. Wages are significantly lower there. For comparison: In Hungary, full-time employees receive an annual salary of around 17,000 euros, in Germany around 61,000 euros. Combustion engines, plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles are built in southern Hungary…”Article by Geli Hensolt from March 4, 2025 on SWR 
  • Survey at the factory gatein Mettingen: How Mercedes employees look at the savings package and bonus                      
    “…An insight into the mood is possible in the Mettingen district of Esslingen. Frank Meisel's overall impression is “very good” with regard to job security. He also perceived the mood among his colleagues as “pretty okay” – not without reason, says the 55-year-old from quality management. After all, it would be “worse if we found out that 5,000 people had to leave.” He believes it is appropriate that only half of the tariff increase will now be passed on. You have to “accept cuts so that everything continues to go well”. A lower premium would therefore have been understandable for him. But the money “fully corresponds to the calculation logic we have used since last year,” said the head of the general works council in the video message. (…)
    There is also criticism of the decisions
    An employee from production who did not want to be mentioned by name expressed criticism. He also heard discord from many colleagues. He doesn't think the austerity program is fair, which also has to do with his concerns about the job guarantee agreement. This is provided with a so-called “wind and weather clause”, which obliges the collective bargaining parties to renegotiate in the event of unexpectedly bad developments. The employee fears that “the employer will come to us in 2030 and say: The economy is going downhill, unfortunately we have to lay people off“.”Contribution by Rouven Spindler from March 4th, 2025 in stuttgarter-zeitung.de 
  • A star falls from the sky. Social partnership at Mercedes: General works council and group decide on savings program including wage cuts and job cuts
    “After Audi and Volkswagen, the prestigious automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz has now also published a “savings program”. Together with the general works council, the group agreed on many individual measures that result in less employment and poorer pay. (…) Chief Financial Officer Harald Wilhelm announced when presenting the business figures last week that parts of the administration would be outsourced. In addition, Mercedes wants to produce more in countries with lower labor costs. Positions that become vacant should not be filled again. It is not known how many jobs Mercedes-Benz will cut in total, reported dpa with reference to Wirtschaftswoche. The fact that the existing agreement on employment security was extended by five years, until the end of 2034, as part of the current negotiations between the group and the general works council has at least a positive impact on the employees. To achieve this, the 91,000 employees in Germany have to make some compromises…”Article by Gudrun Giese in the young world from March 5th, 2025 
  • If you have déjà vu, see our dossier:Clear-cutting at VW from 2024? Car manufacturer plans billions in cuts to increase “efficiency”.
• Volkswagen as a role model: Mercedes boss wants to push for austerity measures
  “It's not just VW that is affected, all German car companies are in crisis. Sales of luxury cars in particular are declining. Manufacturers like Mercedes have relied on expensive models and aligned their strategy accordingly. They allow you to earn more per car sold. Both sales of electric cars and sales in the People's Republic of China have also collapsed. Corporations are reacting with the massive destruction of jobs. According to a current estimate by Deutsche Bank, up to 130,000 jobs will be eliminated.
  Mercedes-Benz is also affected by this. The company sold 1.98 million cars last year, 3 percent less than the year before. (…)
  In 2022, Mercedes set the goal of becoming the most valuable luxury car brand in the world. The idea behind this was that the high-price segment was less susceptible to economic fluctuations than the mass market. In the so-called top segment (S-Class, Maybach and AMG models, EQS and G-Class) sales fell by 14 percent. (…) Sales fell by 9 percent in Germany and by 3 percent in Europe as a whole. However, thanks to well-filled coffers from recent record years, this slump can easily be absorbed. The company board's whining is still enormous.
  "Mercedes-Benz is facing a reduction in its medium-term profit targets. The previously targeted return on sales of up to 14 percent is considered unrealistic," says "Focus online". Even if profits last year were lower than the 14.5 billion euros in 2023, good profits would still be made. (…)
  At the same time, Mercedes likes to dip into the state treasury: the group received around 59 million euros in subsidies for 42 funding projects.
  Mercedes boss Ola Källenius wants to continue his “austerity course” regardless. The previous requirement was to reduce fixed costs by 20 percent by 2025 (compared to 2019). Now it has been followed up: Källenius wants to save around 5 billion euros by 2027. There is talk of more than 20,000 jobs that could be lost. The so-called “future security” for 2030 should not be called into question. How long this statement will last remains to be seen.There are already massive cuts in employment elsewhere. For example, in the financial division (Mercedes-Benz Bank, MB Leasing), to which “future security” does not apply. (…)
  Another measure: Salary increases for managers will be canceled this year. Perhaps this is a test to cut wages for collective bargaining employees in the near future - like at VW. The fact that Mercedes boss Källenius loudly complains about the high level of sickness and abuse of telephone sick notifications can also be seen as an attempt to shift responsibility for the misery onto the employees. The successful attack on the VW workforce has encouraged capital. Mercedes-Benz should follow suit as soon as possible.”Article by Christa Hourani in the UZ from January 24, 2025 
  • See our dossier on VW as a model:Clear-cutting at VW from 2024? Car manufacturer plans billions in cuts to increase “efficiency”.
• Mercedes luxury strategy: small production, but great profits!
  “On May 19, Mercedes boss Ola Källenius announced at the chic hotspot on the French Côte d'Azur that the board of directors had decided to focus future production and sales strictly on luxury models for the rich and super-rich. The focus should be on the “top-end luxury” models from Maybach, AMG, and the S-Class – the group’s cash cows. But that means that Mercedes wants to produce significantly fewer cars! The board has announced the discontinuation of three out of seven compact vehicles. “What models these are,” said Källenius arrogantly to the press and his “dear employees,” “I leave it to your imagination.” Insiders firmly assume that in two to three years the normal version of the A and B classes, which are produced by the 6,500-strong workforce in Rastatt and Hungary, will be affected. This would of course also affect engine and aggregate production in other plants, as well as jobs at suppliers. It is therefore completely incomprehensible and should be rejected when Mercedes General Works Council Chairman Ergun Lümali supports the luxury strategy because it allows “the company to grow significantly profitably”.…”Report from June 18, 2022 in the Rote-Fahne-News – while they are outraged, we can gain something from fewer cars and are not surprised, because (the scarce) parts such as personnel have been redirected to the more profitable models for a long time...
• Thanks to its new luxury strategy, Daimler needs more temporary workers (instead of permanent hires)
  • Daimler: 700 takeovers – now continue to fight for permanent employment of all temporary workers!
    “Been with Daimler for six years, but again not there for the takeover," says a totally frustrated colleague. (...) The Daimler board's new strategy: "Only luxury class, only electric", also shows its ugly, exploitative face in the cradle of "electric and luxury", in Sindelfingen, in Factory 56: Only temporary workers keep production running - there are now significantly more temporary workers and students in the groups than permanent employees. 700 takeovers for a one-year temporary contract at Daimler are a success of the struggle: We can achieve success if we stick together. Now the remaining approximately 2,000 temporary workers must turn their dejection and frustration about not being included in this selection into fighting strength: Together for permanent employment of all temporary workers!” Article from colleagues newspaper “Die Bumper” on June 13th, 2022 in the Rote-Fahne-News , see previously:
  • Daimler: The negotiations must end immediately!
    “While Ola Källenius announces his new luxury strategy - and with it the end of the A and B classes - he is negotiating behind closed doors with the general works council about production locations and quantities for future electric vehicles. He is demanding 200 million in savings, otherwise he threatens to give vehicles to Finland, Hungary or South Africa. You feel like you're watching Groundhog Day. You wake up in the morning and the board is unpacking another horror catalogue. What does the board want specifically? Lower shift bonuses, longer operating times due to on-the-fly changes on the assembly lines, a higher level of performance, generally more flexibility (i.e. more temporary workers and even more weekend work and cancellation stories), two full days of vacation for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve…”From the colleague newspaper “Die Bumper” on June 10, 2022 in the Rote-Fahne-News 
• [At what price?] Mercedes plant in Berlin saved – future secured until 2030 
  “The future of the Mercedes plant in Berlin-Marienfelde is secured. The works council and IG Metall achieved this in negotiations. Mercedes wanted to close the plant. But the employees fought for their future. Now come electric motors and a competence center for digitalization. (…) After the necessary pressure from the actions, the first negotiations took place with the company. The threatened site closure on installments turned into a future-oriented competence center for digitalization and production in the area of ​​e-mobility. Mercedes is now building a new “Digital Factory Campus” in its oldest production plant, which is almost 120 years old, and will develop software there from 2022 and train employees for it. Now the high-performance electric motors are added. Daimler officially announced this today. Berlin will become a production location for components for e-drive systems...”IG Metall report from November 18, 2021 , see alsothe IGM Berlin (Jan Otto: “IG Metall is more in demand as a social partner in this century than ever before. We have also successfully “transformed” and developed further. “The future belongs to us!”: We ensure this every day.”)
• Mercedes takes on 398 temporary employees in Rastatt [in permanent contracts from February 2022] 
  "... Things looked very different a week ago. 600 temporary workers were supposed to leave. Their temporary employment agency informed them by email that their employment at the Mercedes plant would end on October 1st. Because semiconductor chips were missing, there was not enough work. The works council, employees and IG Metall went up in arms. They put pressure on them with campaigns and through the media, with department meetings, distribution of leaflets and a press conference in front of the factory gate - until the factory management finally entered into negotiations The 398 temporary employees who are being taken on have often been at Mercedes in Rastatt for years. The remaining 200 temporary employees have only been there for a short time and were hired primarily to cover the vacation period in the summer The works council at Mercedes has negotiated that the statutory maximum temporary employment period for temporary employees will be extended from 18 months to up to 48 months, in exchange for more money and the subsequent takeover. This is also possible under the collective agreement on temporary work from IG Metall. At Mercedes, temporary employees receive the same basic wage as newly trained permanent employees - almost 22 euros per hour.And unlike the law, which allows employers to simply exchange temporary workers for others after 18 months instead of taking them on, the works agreement at Mercedes in Rastatt excludes this “revolving door effect”. That means: after 48 months, no exchange – but takeover. In fact, not all of the 398 temporary employees in Rastatt have reached the 48-month period of employment. Nevertheless, the works council was able to push through their takeover early last week due to pressure from the workforce. The transfers into permanent contracts will take place from February 2022…” Report from IG Metall from October 4, 2021 
• More than 600 temporary workers at the Mercedes plant in Rastatt have to go. The Daimler Group firmly rejects the accusation of unfair action – IG Metall: “Check approach” 
  “Even the day after the surprising announcement by the car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz that it would put almost 600 temporary workers at the Rastatt plant on the road on September 30th, waves of indignation broke out. The works council and IG Metall accuse the car manufacturer of tactical maneuvers - such as intentionally incorrectly submitted short-time work applications - which justified or even made it unavoidable that the temporary employment contracts should be terminated. When asked by BT, the company's press office in Stuttgart rejected this as unfounded on Friday. The employment agency has checked several times whether short-time work instead of the end of the contract is possible for temporary workers. “The result was clear: No. IG Metall is happy to check this again and will certainly not come to a different conclusion,” said a company spokesman. Since we already know that the Rastatt plant will have to slow down production in the next quarter due to the supply bottlenecks for semiconductors and will therefore need fewer staff, Mercedes-Benz is not allowed to extend the temporary employment contracts according to the employment office's regulations, the spokesman continued. (…) The car manufacturer also objects to the claim that by “kicking out” the temporary workers on September 30th, it is avoiding the obligation to take them on. (…) We would not have had to take on any of the temporary workers who have to leave now before 2023.” Of course, terminating the 600 contracts in one fell swoop is a lot, but, according to the spokesman, this is simply due to the fact that the contracts will all expire on this deadline and they cannot be extended for the reasons mentioned in view of the reduction in production in the coming year.The temporary employment agency Dekra, to which the just over 600 terminated employees belong, only made a brief statement about the events when asked by BT. According to a spokesman, they are just a service provider: the decision about employment relationships rests solely with Mercedes-Benz…”Article “Temporary workers: Daimler sees itself in the right” by Florian Krekel from September 24, 2021 in Badisches Tagblatt online , see also
  • theIG Metall Gaggenau on September 23, 2021 :Employees laid off in uncertainty!
    “There is no reason to be happy at the Mercedes Benz plant in Rastatt these days. The reason is the unilateral decision by the plant management to part with over 600 temporary workers as of September 30, 2021. The works council sees itself being ignored by the factory management. Murat Sür, chairman of the works council at the Rastatt plant, criticizes: "At the beginning of this year, the plant management's request was exactly the same. We knew how to prevent that back then. That's exactly why we made an agreement with the plant management to rule out the so-called "revolving door effect." The employer probably doesn't want to know anything about this anymore. You get the feeling that it was planned this way a long time ago." Torsten Höink, deputy chairman of the works council at the Rastatt plant, adds: "At first it was explained to the works council that there were structural overhangs" and therefore no short-time work was possible in the plant. After we had this checked and were able to prove the opposite to the factory management, the reasoning suddenly changed. Without sufficient consultation with the works council, the plant management simply carried out the deregistrations. At times we had the impression that the plant management didn’t really know what they actually wanted.” Bodo Seiler, 2nd representative of IG Metall Gaggenau, notes: “Requests for short-time work can be made so clumsily that the employment agency has no choice but to reject short-time work.” IG Metall Gaggenau is currently having a legal review carried out to determine whether this is the case in this case…”
• Daimler boss Källenius wants to continue to cut staff despite billions in profits 
  “Despite sharply increased profits, Daimler wants to make drastic savings for its employees. The works council finds this “crazy” and is demanding that they give in. Daimler is again reporting lavish billion-dollar profits like in the best of times, but wants to stick to its austerity measures. According to previous reports, up to 30,000 jobs will be lost this way alone. “We neither can nor do we want to give up the Swabian gene of savings,” said CEO Ola Källenius, confronting the works council, whose boss Michael Brecht had demanded that the company give in given that business was going well. “If we have full order books and profits are bubbling up, how is the workforce supposed to understand the cost-cutting measures that will last for years?” Brecht told Automobilwoche. Around a year ago, at the beginning of the pandemic, Daimler tightened its austerity measures again due to deep red numbers and a slump in demand. Thousands of jobs are to be cut, primarily through severance pay programs. (…) Daimler had around 298,700 employees worldwide at the end of 2019, 293,700 in mid-2020 and now 289,600. The number is likely to continue to decline, although Daimler is not only cutting jobs, but is also creating thousands of new jobs, especially in the software segment, which is crucial for electromobility. Brecht described the situation as “crazy”. On the one hand, the company is spending hundreds of millions of euros to send people home. On the other hand, thousands of software specialists are being hired. Efficiency cannot be the only benchmark…”Article by Florian Pillau from July 21, 2021 at heise.de 
• One year working at Daimler 
  “What doesn't move Germany: Progress in a different kind of power struggle that takes place constantly and without a break in the republic, namely the one that capital is waging against wage labor in the country. With and without reference to Corona, for example, the German automobile manufacturer is setting new standards in terms of wages, performance and employment, which the other side has to swallow if they want to continue to be employed at all. We document the progress made in this regard in our chronicle of a year of work at Daimler.The German auto industry does not lack public attention. The latest electric and hybrid vehicles will be checked for their competitiveness compared to models from Tesla, Toyota and Chinese start-ups, the progress in national battery technology will be monitored in detail, as will the inauguration of fully automated production facilities and the status of satellite and 5G-supported networking for the paid use of mobility as a commodity. The question of why one should be interested in whether and how corporations of German origin will manage to continue to dominate this key global industry as usual in the future will also be answered - if it arises at all: “Our livelihood depends on it