IG Metall Warns of ‘Confrontational Summer’ as Mercedes Delays 18.4% Bonus for 90,000 Workers

Thousands of Mercedes-Benz employees at a dozen German sites walked off the job or attended rallies today, as IG Metall escalated its opposition to what it calls the automaker’s “sharpened austerity course.” The union’s leadership signalled that the protests could be the opening act of a long, tense season for the entire German auto industry — and that further walkouts are already being prepared.

Christiane Benner, head of IG Metall, addressed a crowd in Düsseldorf in person. She pointed to the roughly 50,000 industry-wide job cuts already recorded in 2025, arguing that uncertainty across the sector has reached a new peak. For Mercedes-Benz specifically, the conflict centres on a special payment known as the “transformation component.” Under the current collective agreement, workers were expecting to receive the sum — equivalent to 18.4 percent of one month’s pay — in July of this year. Management now wants to postpone the payment until 2027.

Around 90,000 of the company’s 108,000 German employees would be affected by the delay, according to the union. In parallel, the board is pushing through a productivity drive that staff describe as “more work for the same money.” Negotiations are ongoing over an extension of the 35-hour working week without any wage compensation. Management intends to accelerate processes, trim organisational layers and cut the cost of each hour worked.

The company justified the moves in a letter to the workforce, saying Germany’s cost position had become unsustainable. A spokesperson acknowledged employee concerns but stressed that “economic realities” leave no alternative. Financial pressure is indeed mounting: group profit already fell more than 50 percent in 2025, sliding from €10.4 billion to €5.3 billion. The slide continued into the first quarter of 2026, with earnings dropping another 17.2 percent. Tariffs, unfavourable exchange rates and fierce competition in China are all weighing on results.

Mercedes’ internal cost programme, branded “Next Level Performance,” is designed to counter those headwinds. But with wages and working time in the crosshairs, IG Metall is vowing that any attempt to push through the measures unilaterally will meet stiff resistance. The union is already planning further action across the sector, promising that the summer will be “confrontational” for Germany’s carmakers.

Protests took place in Sindelfingen, Untertürkheim, Rastatt and Kuppenheim — the heart of Mercedes’ production and administration — as well as in Bremen, Berlin, Hamburg, Germersheim, Düsseldorf and Ludwigsfelde. Employees unable to attend in person were offered a digital rally option.

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