Germany: for the first time in 15 years, Daimler is going to appeal to partial unemployment (Kuzarbeit)

Badly affected by the crisis, the German car maker Daimler AG announced, on December 8, 2008, that it was going to place under "partial unemployment" about two thirds of the 28.800 people who work on its larger production plant in Sindelfingen, Germany, between January 12 and March 31, 2009. Following Daimler's example, most German car and equipment manufacturers negotiated (or are negotiating) measures to reduce working time to try and adjust production while avoiding layoffs. (Ref. 080994)
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According to a Daimler spokeswoman, this decision currently only concerns Mercedes Benz’s Sindelfingen site, where the S-Class, E-Class and C-Class are produced. However, the carmaker, which recorded sales drops of around 25% in November compared to November 2007, is currently bargaining with its works council for similar measures in its 13 remaining production sites in Germany. Thus, a decision should be made in a few days for the Stuttgart-Untertürkheim site. During this period, the employees

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