Daimler's labour model

19 July 2004 By Marianne Brun-Rovet

By agreeing to take a pay cut, the automotive group s executives have defused the charge that they are fat cats. Daimler isn t threatening to shift jobs abroad so it can t be accused of being unpatriotic. This may be a model for other German companies.

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Mercedes staff planned new demonstrations this week in protest at DaimlerChrysler's proposals to cut costs by E500m a year at its Stuttgart factories by, among other things, extending working hours. More than 60,000 workers at the German car manufacturer stopped working last Thursday to protest against the company's attempts to end a 30yearold agreement giving workers the right to a fiveminute break from the production line every hour.

But a deal between DaimlerChrysler and workers is seen as likely this week, according to Reuters and Dow Jones, after Daimler's executives said they would forgo pay to resolve the dispute.

Meanwhile, French workers at a car components factory owned by Bosch on Monday accepted demands from the private German automotive group to work longer for the same pay. This followed a similar deal at Siemens, in Germany, last month. MAN, Linde and Opel are among the other large German companies seeking to impose longer working hours.

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