General Works Council Mercedes-Benz Group.

General Works Council Mercedes-Benz Group.

The General Works Council represents the interests of the approximately 114,000 employees of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Mercedes-Benz AG and Mercedes-Benz Intellectual Property GmbH & Co. KG in Germany. It is composed of representatives from all plants and divisions.

The sites and units in Germany generally send the chairpersons and deputy chairpersons of the local works council committees to the General Works Council. There are also five representatives of the branch districts and one representative of MBVD (Mercedes-Benz Sales Germany) from Berlin.

The main focus of the General Works Council is on the preservation and expansion of jobs in Germany, the creation of good and fair working conditions and the transformation in the interest of the employees. With this goal in mind, the General Works Council negotiates general works agreements with the management. In addition, the General Works Council is involved in political and social issues that go beyond day-to-day business, but nevertheless affect the interests of Mercedes-Benz employees.

Annual Report General Works Council 2023 (only in German language)

PDF (8.13 MB) 9 Apr 2024

Group Works Council

The Group Works Council is responsible for representing the interests at Group level. It represents the interests of the employees of Mercedes-Benz Group AG and its subsidiaries in Germany. The most important goal is to shape the transformation in the interest of the employees. The Group Works Council is committed to preserving and expanding jobs in Germany and to ensuring good and fair working conditions. For this purpose, it negotiates Group works agreements that apply at Group level.

International committees

There is also strong international networking within the European Works Council (EWC) and the World Employee Committee (WEC). The network of trade union representatives and stakeholders from the locations around the world offers a central exchange platform with the possibility of direct contact with the Board of Management. This is of enormous importance, for example for the enforcement of human and trade union rights.

Ergun Lümali as chairman and Michael Häberle as vice-chairman are at the head of the World Employee Committee. The European Works Council is chaired by a five-member Presidential Committee. Ergun Lümali (Germany) is the chairman. In addition, Michael Häberle (Germany), Michael Bettag (Germany), Patricia Koutchouk¹ (France) and Jose Manuel Cueto Silva (Spain) were elected to the Presidential Committee.

¹Patricia Koutchouk's mandate ended in the summer of 2023. A decision on her successor will be made at the next WEC meeting in July 2024.

European Works Council

World Employee Comittee

Principles of Social Responsibility and Human Rights (English)

PDF (3.18 MB) 24 Jan 2023

General Representation for Employees with Disabilities

The General Representation for Employees with Disabilities and the Group Representation for Employees with Disabilities represent the interests of persons with disabilities in matters concerning the entire company or several locations which cannot be regulated by the representatives of persons with disabilities at the individual sites.

In addition, it also represents the interests of employees with disabilities from locations where no local representative body for persons with disabilities exists or where it cannot be elected because the required minimum number of five persons with disabilities is not met.

The General Representation for Employees with Disabilities sees it as one of its central tasks to raise awareness of the topic of inclusion throughout the company. For example, the members draw attention to the lack of accessibility among those responsible.

They also advocate uniform regulations on occupational reintegration management at all German locations.

General Youth and Trainee Representation

The General Youth and Trainee Representation represents the interests of trainees and DH (Dual Education, Work and Study University) students at all German locations. It is composed of 16 local youth and trainee representatives from the individual plants, dealerships and logistics centers. The goal of the General Youth and Trainee Representation is to strategically address and implement youth-related topics within the company and to drive them forward. In this way, it contributes to ensuring that training at Mercedes-Benz is sustainable and remains attractive in the competitive environment of the education market.