Around 25,000 Mercedes-Benz employees have demonstrated against the planned sale of the company's car dealerships, workers' representatives in Germany said on Tuesday.
Some 10,000 people joined a protest at the luxury car-builder's plant in Sindelfingen in the state of Baden-Württemberg, according to the General Works Council and the IG Metall trade union.
Under the slogan "We stick together - on July 2 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 of the car dealerships, but also of the Mercedes plants, with protesters venting their anger with drums, whistles and banners.
"The employees are furious," said General Works Council Chairman Ergun Lümali. "Anyone who attacks one of us is attacking us all."
All Mercedes production lines were at a standstill and numerous branches are also closed. Works meetings had already been held at many locations in the spring.
According to earlier reports, around 8,000 people are employed at Mercedes-Benz branches in around 80 plants. One company can include several car dealerships.
The group said in March that it intended to sell the dealerships and that each one would be examined individually. According to a spokesperson, no dealerships have yet been sold.
The company wants to select the buyers according to several criteria, including having to bring retail expertise, economic strength, entrepreneurial competence, willingness to invest and open-mindedness towards employee representatives.
The criteria for potential buyers also include collectively agreed standards such as salaries and pension schemes and have been under discussion for several months. A result of the talks is expected in the coming weeks.
The locations are not to be sold as a whole, and the Group has also ruled out purely financial investors. The aim is to retain jobs in Germany, it said.
The General Works Council and trade union fear that working conditions could deteriorate significantly as a result of the sale.
