Around 25,000 Mercedes-Benz employees have demonstrated against the planned sale of the company’s car dealerships, worker representatives in Germany said on Tuesday.
Around 10,000 people joined a protest at the luxury carmaker’s factory in Sindelfingen in the state of Baden-Württemberg, according to the General Works Council and the IG Metall union.
Under the motto “We stand together – on July 2nd and every day”, more protesters gathered at the Mercedes-Benz Group headquarters in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim and in the cities of Rastatt, Dusseldorf, Bremen and Berlin.
The rallies were attended not only by employees from car dealerships but also from Mercedes factories, with protesters venting their anger with drums, whistles and banners.
“Employees are furious,” said General Workers Council Chairman Ergun Lümali. “Anyone who attacks one of us is attacking us all.”
All Mercedes production lines were paralyzed and numerous branches were also closed. Work meetings had already been held in many locations in the spring.
According to previous reports, around 8,000 people work at Mercedes-Benz branches in around 80 factories. A company may include several car dealerships.
The group reported in March that it intended to sell the dealerships and that each would be analyzed individually. According to a spokesperson, no dealership has been sold yet.
The company intends to select buyers according to several criteria, including having to bring retail knowledge, economic strength, entrepreneurial skills, willingness to invest and open-mindedness to employee representatives.
