The supervisory board of the auto supplierContinentalhas confirmed the Group’s comprehensive closure plans. The tire plant in Aachen will be closed at the end of 2021, the location for automotive electronics in Karben, Hesse, by the end of 2024, as the company announced in Hanover on Wednesday. In addition, the Regensburg site is to be rebuilt. A total of around 4800 jobs are affected at the three locations. In addition to the loss of jobs, this also includes retraining of employees and the relocation of jobs.
Employee representatives immediately criticized the decision. The chairman of the union IG BCE, Michael Vassiliadis (56), spoke of a “clear-cut concept” of the company. “Continental offended the entire team, damaged its own corporate culture and trampled on corporate co-determination,” he said.
Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (47, SPD) had already shown himself irritated about the extent of the austerity measures. The North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Armin Laschet (59, CDU), who comes from Aachen, spoke of “cold capitalism”.
The plant closings are part of a tightened austerity program at the second largest Auto supplier of the world. Under the pressure of structural change in the auto industry and the Corona sales crisis, Continental wants to “change” a total of 30,000 jobs worldwide, 13,000 of them in Germany. The aim of the group is to save more than one billion euros annually from 2023 onwards.