Bosch Works Council Demands Task Force to Save the German Auto Industry

The Demand in Detail

According to its own figures, Bosch is the world's largest automotive supplier. The group's works council is now demanding a round table at which employers, unions, and politicians can jointly deliberate on ways out of the crisis. From the perspective of the employees' side, internal corporate savings programs and cost-cutting measures are no longer sufficient to secure Germany as a business location in the long term.

The demand comes against the backdrop of growing conflicts over working hours and austerity measures that have been shaking the industry for weeks. Last Friday, according to union figures, tens of thousands of Mercedes-Benz employees across Germany protested against the tightening of the company's cost-cutting course. According to IG Metall, the actions are to be the prelude to further, cross-regional protests.

Wave of Protests at Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz had previously announced a cost-cutting program and is considering longer working hours at the same pay in order to strengthen the competitiveness of its German plants. The automaker cited the difficult business in China as the reason for the decline in profits. In the first quarter, the company's profit fell 17 percent year-on-year to 1.43 billion euros; the quarterly figures had been presented at the end of April.

The situation is also coming to a head at Volkswagen. According to a media report, the European market leader is planning a radical restructuring that would see four plants in Germany closed. "Manager Magazin" reported at the end of June that up to 100,000 jobs at Volkswagen could be at risk worldwide. The cuts would thus be even deeper than previously communicated.

Looming Job Cuts at Volkswagen

The scale of the job cuts across the entire industry is significant. According to calculations by the auditing firm EY, around 111,000 jobs in the German automotive industry have been lost since 2019, almost 50,000 of them in the past year alone. The industry is simultaneously under pressure from the transition to electromobility, rising energy and labor costs, and competition from Chinese manufacturers.

A car cavalcade by employees from the automotive and supplier industry is planned for July 9 in Stuttgart, the state capital of Baden-Württemberg. The demonstration is intended to increase pressure on politicians and companies. IG Metall has also announced further employee actions at the Volkswagen Group.

Planned Demonstrations and Further Actions

With a view to the stock market, Bernstein Research rated Volkswagen's preferred stock "Market-Perform" on June 26, 2026. The Bosch works council's demand is explicitly directed at the political level. Sell's appeal is a signal that employee representatives no longer want to leave industrial transformation solely to companies, but are demanding binding political framework conditions.

The article was distributed via dpa-AFX from Gerlingen. The voice from the Bosch works council thus comes at a stage in which the German automotive industry is under pressure on several fronts simultaneously: declining profits, shrinking production, and a structural change that, in the view of many players, cannot be managed without coordinated countermeasures.