German Automotive Industry Coping With Widespread Strikes

With the UAW currently coping with a high-profile corruption scandal in the United States, news of Germany’s widespread auto strikes has taken a backseat in domestic media. Last Friday, IG Metall concluded its third day of striking against Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Porsche, Audi, VW, and BMW.

However the 72-hours of downtime may only be the appetizer in the German union’s strike-buffet. While both IG Metall and the manufacturers have expressed a willingness to resume talks on Monday, the union remains on the cusp of a vote that could extend striking indefinitely. Here’s why they are so pissed:

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  • Kwik_Shift_Pro4X Poop or get off the pot.
  • TheMrFreeze The wife unit and I refuse to buy a white/black/grey/silver car...life's too short for boring. As it happens we both drive orange cars right now but slightly different shades. Total coincidence, just happened that the used cars we found that met our requirements (ie: manual trans and at least some amount of character) both happened to be orange. My previous daily driver was orange as well, again total coincidence...they just seem to find us I guess...
  • Marcus36 In other words...."WE have no idea what we are doing"
  • Donald This is what happens when you make your wife CFO. This is all the result of accounting problems. And could’ve been avoided with a reserve of liquidy.
  • Rochester When I was young, a number of girls I dated wanted to own a Jeep. I didn't understand (and don't like them myself), but it was certainly something. So good for Jeep leaning into that.