Selected excerpts from a LabourNet Germany dossier. Read the full dossier

"… Continental, Bosch, ZF, Mahle, Brose – everywhere there is a threat of massive job cuts, factories are threatened with closure. In addition, almost unnoticed by the public, are the insolvencies of small, often unknown supplier companies. (…) During the last major crisis more than ten years ago there were recipes that prevented the worst. Short-time work, drawing down working time accounts, closing the hall for a few days. These are recipes for a completely normal crisis. (…) This time it is about a change like the automotive industry has not yet experienced, because much of what is produced will no longer be needed in the future. (…) Some hundreds of thousands of the estimated 800,000 to 900,000 jobs in the sector are at stake if alternative drives such as electric motors gain ground…" Comment "A change like the automotive industry has not yet experienced" by Thomas Fromm on 25.10.2019 in the Süddeutsche Zeitung online.

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Job destruction: Bosch is restructuring and downsizing – Group transfers 62,500 employees to new subsidiaries and simultaneously cuts 22,000 positions

"The elimination of more than 20,000 jobs by 2030 at the automotive supplier Bosch in Germany has been known for some time. Now the management of Robert Bosch GmbH announced a restructuring of its group structure. The focus is on the mobility sector. A total of 62,500 employees are to change to four newly emerging subsidiaries within the company by August 2027, reported SWR last Thursday evening. In addition to the mobility division, it concerns the service areas "Bosch Digital", "Global Business Services" and "Global Real Estate". At Robert Bosch GmbH, the corporate headquarters and group research with a total of slightly more than 3,000 employees will remain. (…) Despite the new structure, all subsidiaries are to remain an integral part of the Bosch Group.

The employment contracts of the 62,500 affected employees will be transferred to the new GmbHs, the conditions will remain identical. (…) In the future, however, many things could change for the worse, because the guarantee of existing employment contracts and jobs does not apply forever. After the end of the statutory protection associated with the transfer of business, Bosch could fundamentally change the working conditions in the subsidiaries, it was said at SWR with reference to Hamburg labor lawyer Rainer Fuhlrott. (…) For employees, the future at Bosch looks bleak. Even if no further jobs are to fall victim to the group restructuring, a total of 22,000 jobs will be cut by the end of 2030, mainly in the mobility sector.

Already last year it became known that around 13,000 jobs would be eliminated, mainly affecting the sites Stuttgart-Feuerbach, Schwieberdingen, Waiblingen, Bühl and Homburg. On September 22 this year, thousands of employees from the automotive and supplier industries participated in a nationwide action day of IG Metall. A large rally took place at the Bosch plant in Nuremberg, where around 500 employees protested and expressed their concern about job loss, because the site depends almost entirely on combustion engine cars, it was said on Instagram. For a long time, the workforce has waived remuneration components and performed unpaid overtime work.

In return, redundancies due to operational reasons were excluded until the end of 2026. With the end of the agreement, around 900 jobs in Nuremberg are now to be eliminated, as reported by automotiveit.eu in October." Article by Gudrun Giese in junge Welt on 26 October 2026 

Supplementary Collective Agreement for MAHLE at the Stuttgart and Kornwestheim sites: "Job Security until 2030 – Workforce Makes Substantial Sacrifices"

"The MAHLE management, the joint works council, and IG Metall Baden-Württemberg have agreed on a supplementary collective agreement for the Stuttgart and Kornwestheim sites. The agreement enables the company to implement the announced cost-cutting program in administration and development and adapt to the tightened market conditions. At the same time, redundancies due to operational requirements are ruled out for the coming years, and the sites receive more planning security.

MAHLE and IG Metall have agreed to conclude a future collective agreement by the end of September. If this future collective agreement is not reached, the supplementary collective agreement will expire. (…)

The core of the collective agreement is a package of employee contributions to cost reduction until the end of 2029. For employees, this means noticeable cuts, such as a postponed wage increase, the mandatory conversion of T-ZUG 2026 into days off, and significant reductions in Christmas and vacation pay. Staff not covered by collective agreements also make an equivalent contribution through losses in wage adjustments and bonus payments.

In return, employees receive extensive special protection against dismissal: Ordinary redundancies due to operational requirements will not take effect until December 31, 2029. Depending on the economic development of MAHLE Europe, the collective agreement parties have agreed on a mutual right of termination with the possibility of early termination of the collective agreement by December 31, 2028." Press release from July 2, 2026 by IG Metall Baden-Württemberg 

The automotive supplier Mahle wants to close its plant in Neustadt an der Donau: On Tuesday (May 26) at 14:15, an open-ended strike will begin with a demonstration

IG Metall mobilizes against site closures at auto supplier IAV in Berlin. Hundreds of jobs threatened, drastic deterioration of working conditions announced

"A week ago came the bad news for the hundreds of employees at the auto supplier IAV at its headquarters in Berlin: The site will be closed, and the vast majority of the approximately 1,250 employees are to be dismissed. In addition, various deteriorations of working conditions are threatened. On Tuesday, the trade union IG Metall (IGM) called on employees on-site to protest; about 600 followed. Besides the affected workers, partly prominent politicians also participated, which at least points to the relevance attributed to this latest example of the German economic crisis. The official confirmation of the end of the site was published last Wednesday.

Employees were told that the company premises would be sold in 2027 and until then all employees except a "hard core" would be dismissed unless they accepted the offer to move to the site in Gifhorn, about 250 kilometers away. (…) Core business is the development of technical solutions for the automotive industry, the largest shareholder is Volkswagen with 50 percent. (…) For the employees, the "restructuring" of the company is bitter. In total, around 1,400 jobs are to be lost in Germany. Besides the headquarters in Berlin, the operation in Stollberg in Saxony with around 800 employees is also affected. The move to Gifhorn is obviously "not a viable solution" for most, as formulated by IGM.

And at the other sites too, according to the union, there will be drastic cuts to current working conditions: increase in weekly working hours, only one day of home office instead of four days so far, only 25 days of annual leave and mandatory qualification tests even for long-term employees – including labor law sanctions upon failure. "This is a declaration of war on the workforce," said IGM. In view of this threat, the unionists were trying to appear determined at the protest on Tuesday. The demonstration procession was short but loud. Further actions, although not yet concretely named, have been announced for the coming weeks. However, various sides complained that the management seems to have little interest in saving the site. (…) Ines Schwerdtner, federal chairwoman of the party Die Linke (The Left), drew a parallel to federal politics.

It is "probably no coincidence" that sites are being protected, for example in Lower Saxony, where the state holds shares in IAV's parent company Volkswagen and will soon be holding elections…" Article by Luca von Ludwig in junge Welt on May 13, 2026 ("Site driven to the wall"),