The news. At the beginning of September, Mercedes-Benz asked employee representatives and the IG Metall union to agree to an increase in the weekly working time from 35 to 40 hours, without any corresponding increase in pay, at the group’s German plants. Management threatened that, if the proposal were rejected, one of the plants would be closed. The IG Metall union is opposed to the proposal.
The stakes. Mercedes-Benz considers production costs in Germany to be unsustainable. The group believes
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As a Berlin correspondent for the French and Swiss press since the late 1990s, I cover a wide range of economic, political and social issues, with a particular focus on the German business and labour market. My areas of interest include co-determination, digitalisation, demographics and ESG/DEI policies.