IG Metall Mobilizes Tens of Thousands Against Cost-Cutting Plans at Mercedes and VW

The protests are directed against massive job cuts and reductions affecting employees. As "Manager Magazin" reported, up to 100,000 jobs could be cut worldwide at the two groups – twice as many as previously planned. At the end of 2025, around 164,000 people worked at Mercedes-Benz in Germany, according to company figures, of whom around 16,000 would be directly affected by the plans, according to the group. In December 2024, IG Metall and Volkswagen had agreed following tough collective bargaining negotiations on employment security for the group's German sites until 2030, which excludes redundancies for operational reasons.

Already in the first quarter of 2026, Mercedes-Benz's profit fell by 17 percent year-on-year to 1.43 billion euros. IG Metall sharply criticized the direction of the group's leadership. "Ob Mercedes oder Volkswagen, die Beschäftigten sind nicht bereit, die Zeche für das Managerversagen zu zahlen," said Daniel Friedrich, district manager of IG Metall Küste, in a statement. The union announced: "Die IG Metall und die Beschäftigten der Hersteller und Zulieferer werden den Unternehmenslenkern der Autoindustrie einen heißen Sommer und Herbst bescheren, solange sie weiter auf Arbeitsplatzabbau und Verlagerung setzen, statt echte Problemlösungen zu suchen."

Cost-Cutting Plans and Employment Security

According to union figures, the demonstrations were only the beginning. Employees of Mercedes-Benz demonstrated "gegen eine unbezahlte Erhöhung der Arbeitszeit auf 40 Stunden, Einschnitte bei tariflichen Leistungen, überzogene Dividenden und einen Kürzungskurs des Konzerns auf dem Rücken der Belegschaft," as IG Metall further announced on Friday. The union also pointed to the broader economic situation: According to calculations by auditing firm EY, almost 50,000 jobs were lost in the auto industry across Germany last year alone, and 111,000 positions in the sector have been cut since 2019.

Lower Saxony's Deputy Head of Government and VW Supervisory Board member Julia Willie Hamburg positioned herself clearly against premature plant closures. "Werksschließungen sind keine Zukunftsstrategie," Hamburg told dpa. A large penalty payment for a closure before 2030 makes a short-term effect questionable anyway. "Werksschließungen wirken, wenn überhaupt, frühestens 2030. Das ist nicht die Antwort auf die akute Krise, die wir jetzt gerade haben," she said.

VW Law and the Role of Lower Saxony

Four plants in Germany – Hanover, Emden, Zwickau, and Neckarsulm – face closure, according to "Manager Magazin." The plan also reportedly includes considerations to spin off the group's core brand Volkswagen, as well as the components division, into separate companies. The VW Law of 1960 requires a two-thirds majority on the supervisory board for the "Errichtung und Verlegung von Produktionsstätten" – effectively granting the state of Lower Saxony, which holds 20 percent of the shares, a blocking minority.

From the union's perspective, employees must not pay for the companies' problems. "Die Beschäftigten haben die aktuellen Probleme der Unternehmen nicht verursacht. Sie haben in den vergangenen Jahren Milliarden erwirtschaftet, die Transformation mitgetragen und immer wieder Flexibilität bewiesen." The decision-makers in the groups forget one thing, according to IG Metall: "Die Beschäftigten sind nicht schuld an der Misere."

Call for Industrial Policy

IG Metall also demanded a clear signal from politicians. "Auch von der Politik fordern wir ein klares Signal: Der industrielle Kern dieses Landes darf nicht ausgehöhlt werden. Wir brauchen eine aktive Industriepolitik, die Transformation absichert." The union announced further actions for the coming weeks. The protest at Mercedes was only the beginning of a broad mobilization against the cost-cutting plans of the entire sector.

Hamburg also emphasized the need for structural changes: "Im Gegenteil: Volkswagen muss sich verändern. Aber die Transformation muss den Konzern nachhaltig wettbewerbsfähiger machen und an seine Stärken anknüpfen – nicht seine industrielle Substanz schwächen."