Daimler’s group management around CEO Ola Källenius (51) has on Wednesday Dispute with the works council further fueled. In an internal letter to the employees, he threatened the planned competence center with an end Electromobility in the main plant in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim, if the employee representatives continued to insist on their demands. Meanwhile, truck boss Martin Daum (61), also by letter to the workforce, rejected the warnings of a “deforestation” in the German truck plants.
Works councils and IG Metall had recently positioned themselves more and more openly against the conversion and savings plans and only on Monday for a nationwide “solidarity campaign” at all locations called. “The workers in the plants are trembling and are afraid for their future. The administrative staff feels rejected,” it said. General Works Council chief Michael Brecht (55) accused the management of acting “absolutely resistant to advice”.
As often in the past, the main focus is on the main plant in Untertürkheim. Mercedes-Benz develops and manufactures engines, transmissions and axles at the company’s headquarters on the Neckar. This means that the plant is much more affected by the transformation of the industry than, for example, vehicle production in Sindelfingen, with 4,000 of the 19,000 jobs to be eliminated by 2025, according to information provided by the employees.
Daimlerwants to build a “Mercedes-Benz Drive Systems Campus” in Untertürkheim and develop batteries and electric drives. The works council wants that too, but insists that compensation be created in the form of other production orders for work that is lost in the course of the switch – as was once agreed with the company. The e-campus alone is not enough to compensate for the jobs that are lost in the combustion engine.
“Status quo is not an option”
“The negotiators on the employee side insist that all existing agreements are implemented unchanged,” says the management’s letter, which is available to the German press agency. From the point of view of the time, they were sensible and correct, but the situation has fundamentally changed. “Sticking to the status quo is therefore not an option,” write board members Markus Schäfer (55) and Jörg Burzer (50).
One of the points of contention is the manufacture of crankshafts. “One thing is clear: If the new crankshaft production comes to Untertürkheim in its entirety, we will have to examine alternative scenarios for the Mercedes-Benz Drive Systems campus. For reasons of space, it will no longer be possible to bundle future technologies in Untertürkheim.”
Works council calls E-Campus a “Trojan horse” for downsizing
A Daimler spokeswoman confirmed that various alternatives are currently being examined. In order to implement future technologies in Untertürkheim as planned, the appropriate conditions would have to be created there, for example in terms of the areas. This also includes the fact that one cannot stick to the traditional portfolio. However, one continues to strive for a constructive solution together with the employee representatives.
The letter states that the agreement to exclude redundancies for operational reasons until the end of 2029 is of course in effect. At the same time, Schäfer and Burzer ask the employees to be flexible and, in individual cases, to consider moving to another plant nearby.
“The gap between corporate management and the workforce is getting bigger and bigger,” complained the Untertürkheim Betrebsratschefe Michael Häberle on Wednesday. “The fact that the board is now making colleagues even more insecure by threatening to transfer important future topics to other locations is a slap in the face.” One is quite ready to adapt agreements, and one is not one-sidedly attached to the combustion engine. But the premise is compensation.
“We have more and more the impression that the e-campus on offer is primarily a ‘Trojan horse’ with which the board is trying to overturn the rules agreed in Untertürkheim and to artificially force job cuts already today,” said Häberle .
Truck board members are bothered by the expression “clear cut”
Also in the Truck division – the world’s leading truck manufacturer – the mood is heated, there, too, thousands of positions are available. “There is a risk of deforestation if we don’t defend ourselves!” The works councils at several locations recently wrote to the employees. “We can’t leave it like this,” says a letter that has been signed by Daimler Trucks CEO Daum and HR Director Jürgen Hartwig and is also available to the dpa. “‘Clear-cutting’ implies that we want to cut jobs arbitrarily, and that is simply wrong.”
One must, on the one hand, reduce costs, especially in Europe, and, on the other hand, create technological transformation. The board of directors seeks a dialogue with the employee representatives in order to find the best solutions together. “But we want to tell you one thing quite frankly: We can only take measures that are economical,” writes the management. Therefore, one has to be prepared for the fact that employment will disappear in some areas.
A spokeswoman confirmed that there will be “noticeable changes” in the works. The company is aware of the associated responsibility and will negotiate with the works council about the future direction of the locations in the coming months.