About 25,000 Mercedes-Benz employees demonstrated Tuesday against the planned sale of the company’s car dealerships, employee representatives in Germany reported.
About 10,000 people took part in a protest at the luxury carmaker’s factory in Sindelfingen in the state of Baden-Württemberg, according to the General Works Council and trade union IG Metall.
Under the motto “We stay together – on July 2 and every day”, more demonstrators gathered at the headquarters of the Mercedes-Benz Group in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim and in the cities of Rastatt, Düsseldorf, Bremen and Berlin.
Not only employees of the car dealerships, but also employees of the Mercedes factories were present at the demonstrations. The demonstrators expressed their anger with drums, whistles and banners.
“The workers are furious,” said General Works Council Chairman Ergun Lümali. “Anyone who attacks one of us attacks us all.”
All Mercedes production lines were at a standstill and numerous branches were also closed. In the spring, working meetings had already been held at many locations.
According to earlier reports, around 8,000 people are employed at Mercedes-Benz locations in around 80 factories. One company can include several car dealerships.
The group said in March that it planned to sell the dealerships and that each would be examined individually. No dealerships have been sold, a spokesman said.
The company plans to select buyers based on a number of criteria, including the need for retail expertise, economic strength, entrepreneurial skills, willingness to invest and an open attitude towards employee representatives.
