German FAZ: Mercedes branches in the Rhine-Main region remain closed to007192

Because the employees of the Mercedes branches are fighting for their working conditions in a nationwide campaign on Tuesday, customers in the Rhine-Main area have to prepare for restrictions: The companies in Frankfurt, Offenbach (only planned vehicle deliveries take place here), Mainz and Darmstadt will remain closed all day. More than a thousand employees of the Rhine-Main-Neckar branch network will take part. In addition to the Frankfurt and Offenbach locations, this also includes Hanau, Darmstadt, Dieburg and Mainz as well as Mannheim, Heidelberg and Landau. According to the works council, the employees are going to the Mercedes plants in Rastatt and Sindelfingen to protest there together with other company employees. They tried to keep the cuts for customers as low as possible, says a company spokesman. Around 1,600 people work in the branch network, 627 of them in Frankfurt and Offenbach. In total, around 8,000 employees at Mercedes from the 83 company-owned car dealerships worry about their working conditions. According to the works council, the car manufacturer is planning to sell them and there should be no layoffs. The reason for the protest: According to the employee representatives, the employees in the Mercedes branches worked on significantly better conditions than the employees of authorized dealers. Christian Egner, the second representative of IG Metall in Frankfurt, had already said this in April. “Fundamentally, Mercedes-Benz AG has a completely different economic viability, there is employment security until the end of 2029. There you get vacation and Christmas bonuses, a profit share and have 30 days of vacation.” At other car dealerships there are often only 24 days of vacation year, and people also work longer. The 36-hour week applies in the group. “We also have partial retirement, but not in the car dealership,” explained Matthias Becker, the deputy chairman of the Frankfurt works council, at the time. As can be heard, there is disagreement in the discussions between the employer and employee representatives regarding a compensation payment for disadvantages, which may be worse Conditions should be mitigated. The group then rejects the demand that everyone affected should receive a basic amount of 60,000 euros and up to 60 times their gross salary. For an employee who earns 3,000 euros gross per month, Mercedes would have to pay a total of 240,000 euros including 60 salaries. Ten years ago, Mercedes sold 63 of its branches. At that time there was a compensation payment, but it was significantly lower than the current demand: each affected employee received a mid-five-figure amount.
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