Friends of the car brand with the star look forward to driving over the Donnersberger Bridge every year during Advent. Then noble or historic Mercedes models shine, colorfully illuminated, in Munich’s largest Advent calendar. It is uncertain whether this pre-Christmas campaign will also take place in the Mercedes-Benz Center on Arnulfstrasse in the future. Because the board of Mercedes-Benz wants to sell its company-owned branches in Germany. Around 80 companies with around 8,000 employees would be affected. Around 750 employees work in the Munich branch, which includes the companies on Arnulfstrasse, Landsberger Strasse, Otto-Hahn-Ring and Ingolstädter Strasse as well as in Gauting and Wolfratshausen.
The car dealerships and workshops should not close. Instead, external dealers should take over sales and service. The car manufacturer itself wants to focus more on production. External companies have long been responsible for sales abroad.
Even if redundancies are ruled out for employees until the end of 2029, the Munich works council and the IG Metall union do not want to simply accept the plans from Stuttgart. On Tuesday the employees met for an extraordinary works meeting. The works council described the board’s plans as “completely unacceptable and in no way understandable,” IG Metall said after the meeting. In recent years, the employees have “made numerous sacrifices and made many concessions” to ensure the profitability of the branches. These have been profitable for five years. Union secretary Kai Winkler, who was at the meeting, reported anger among the workforce.
If a sale were to take place despite resistance from the workforce, the buyer would probably have to take responsibility for securing employment. Anyone who wants to buy the branches is also buying a strong and organized workforce. “They are only available with collective bargaining agreements,” said Winkler.
Mercedes has been represented in Munich since 1892. The car dealership on Arnulfstrasse has been around since 1959. The new building was opened in 2003 and the Advent calendar has been lit every December since then.