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THOUSANDS of car workers have hit the streets in Germany to protest at the destruction of up to 13,000 jobs.
About 2,000 members of the IG Metall and IG BCE unions protested in Hanover, where the supervisory board of vehicle parts manufacturer Continental was meeting on Thursday, against plans to close plants in Germany and slash up to 13,000 jobs, starting with 1,800 in Aachen.
The company blamed the cuts on a combination of low vehicle production and the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Continental also said that up to 30,000 workers across its worldwide operations will be “modified, relocated or made redundant.”
The unions disputed the reasons for the surprise announcement, calling it “cutting for the sake of cutting.”
IG BCE president Michael Vassiliadis told the protesters: “This is a case of a German company deciding to leave the path of solidarity and social responsibility that has so far guided us through this crisis.”
IG Metall and IndustriALL president Jorg Hofmann said: “It is scandalous for a company to receive tax-financed support while taking advantage of the crisis to relocate work to low-wage countries.”
