Tens of thousands protest at Mercedes-Benz across Germany against plans to extend working hours without pay
More than 33,000 Mercedes-Benz employees across Germany walked out in protest on Friday against management plans to raise the working week from 35 to 40 hours without extra pay and to cut other benefits.
Nationwide walkouts
On Friday, July 3, 2026, thousands of Mercedes-Benz employees gathered at factory gates from Sindelfingen to Hamburg. The union IG Metall put the turnout at more than 33,000; the company estimated roughly 16,000. Protests took place at all German Mercedes sites, including the S-Class plant in Sindelfingen, the headquarters in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim, and locations in Bremen, Berlin, Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Ludwigsfelde.
What the management proposed
In a letter sent to staff the previous week, the board said it must “continue to cut costs at high pressure” and that “the working hour must become cheaper.” The most contentious measure is a plan to raise weekly hours from 35 to 40 without extra pay. As an immediate step, a collectively agreed July bonus for about 90,000 of the company's 108,000 German employees was postponed until next year. The management wants talks with the works council in the coming weeks on unpaid extra hours.
The way the decision was taken and communicated is not correct. The force and the message are extraordinary.
Union resistance and political demands
IG Metall chief Christiane Benner, speaking in Düsseldorf, called the measures “a coordinated general attack on all employees of the German automotive industry, the likes of which we have never seen in Germany.” She stressed that the key to a strong auto industry lies in investing in future-proof products, sites and workers. The union also demanded “a clear signal” from government: the industrial core of the country must not be hollowed out, and an active industrial policy is needed to safeguard the transformation.
While shareholders are profiting more than handsomely, employees are supposed to sacrifice their contractually enshrined rights? Certainly not!
A struggling sector
The protest comes as German automakers face headwinds. Mercedes-Benz reported a 17% drop in first-quarter profit to €1.43 billion, blaming a difficult Chinese market. Meanwhile Volkswagen is reportedly planning up to 100,000 job cuts globally and the closure of four German plants. Consultant EY calculated that nearly 50,000 jobs were lost in Germany's auto sector last year alone, bringing total job losses since 2019 to 111,000.
What comes next
IG Metall said similar protests are planned at other carmakers and suppliers in the coming weeks, including at Volkswagen. The union warned of a “hot summer and autumn,” signalling that the confrontation over working hours and job security is far from over. Mercedes, for its part, said it takes employees’ worries seriously and wants to communicate transparently, even on difficult decisions.
