Frankfurt am Main – Under the slogan “A Future Instead of Cuts,” approximately 175,000 workers demonstrated today against employers’ attacks on their jobs and working conditions in the automotive industry. They gathered at some 280 events across Germany—at special works meetings convened specifically for this day, during protest-style active lunch breaks, at rallies outside factory gates, at demonstrations in public squares, and at similar events. Workers from all major automakers, as well as dozens of large and small suppliers, took part. They criticized attacks on their rights, years of mismanagement, and the companies’ misguided crisis strategies, and called on employers: “Stop the cutbacks and finally invest in the future of our plants!”
Christiane Benner, President of IG Metall, calls on companies to rethink their approach: “Management must finally understand: laying off workers will not save the economy! It will not bring the German auto industry back to the top. That will only succeed through innovation and bold investments in products, technology, and locations—in short, in the future. That is the message coming out of this day. A wake-up call to employers and policymakers! Workers in the automotive industry have sent a powerful message: They are no longer willing to pay for a crisis they did not cause. A big thank you goes out to all our colleagues who protested with us today for their jobs and for the prosperity of us all!”
The automotive industry is under pressure: global upheavals in world markets, new competition, delayed investments, and poor management decisions have put the industry in a difficult position. Companies are responding with large-scale job cuts, plant closures, and relocations abroad. This is unsettling workers, jeopardizing the future of this key industry, and threatening the prosperity of entire regions.
IG Metall is therefore urging that the industry in Germany be made future-proof again by having companies focus on innovation, invest in future-oriented fields, and adapt their strategies to changing markets. IG Metall condemns the fierce attacks by employers on workers’ rights—such as the 35-hour workweek, collective bargaining agreements, and co-determination—as fundamentally wrong, counterproductive, and unjust.
IG Metall also calls for an active industrial policy that takes the changing global conditions seriously and takes countermeasures: through targeted support, effective trade protection, and clear local-content requirements. Furthermore, IG Metall is committed to ensuring that the perspective of industrial workers is not lost in the federal government’s current reform efforts. The union makes it clear: Retirement after 45 years for long-term insured workers, as well as partial retirement under the block model, must be preserved.
