Thousands of workers demonstrated outside Mercedes-Benz factories in Germany Friday over the premium carmaker's cost-saving plans, kicking off an expected wave of protests in the country's crisis-wracked auto industry. German carmaker
AFP | Frankfurt
Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com
Thousands of workers demonstrated outside Mercedes-Benz factories in Germany Friday over the premium carmaker's cost-saving plans, kicking off an expected wave of protests in the country's crisis-wracked auto industry.
German carmakers are battling fierce Chinese competition, US tariffs and weak demand in key markets, with a string of job cuts and other austerity measures announced in recent times.
Organised with the powerful IG Metall union, thousands of workers rallied outside several Mercedes plants, from the southern city of Sindelfingen -- outside Stuttgart -- to Bremen in the north.
"While shareholders benefit more than handsomely, employees are supposed to sacrifice their contractually guaranteed rights," said IG Metall boss Christiane Benner at a protest in Duesseldorf.
"This is how you squander the future and trust."
They were protesting against proposed measures including unpaid increases in weekly working hours and cuts to benefits, according to IG Metall.
Over 33,000 workers took part in the protests nationwide, according to the union. Mercedes said almost 16,000 people had taken part in demonstrations at six of its sites. Mercedes, whose profits halved last year, told AFP that it had launched a savings drive because "structural costs in Germany -- particularly labour costs -- are not competitive by international standards".
