A board member of Bosch, the German industrial behemoth that is reliant on a flagging car industry, says fresh plans to lay off up to 10,000 people have created an “absolutely unbearable” atmosphere at the firm.
Frank Sell, a member of Bosch’s supervisory board and deputy chairman of the group’s works council in its Mobility Services division, told Reuters that the firm’s recently announced round of layoffs could affect between 8,000 and 10,000 roles, adding the news had created an increasingly tense environment in the unit.
Bosch warned in November that a “profound transformation” in the car market had forced it to make difficult cost-cutting decisions.
The carmakers that Bosch supplies with brakes and spark plugs face falling demand, slowing EV uptake, and increased competition from China, which has accordingly hit demand at Bosch.
Bosch is one of several domestic casualties from a flatlining German economy, which has forced more than 60,000 layoff announcements among German Fortune 500 companies this year.
Fellow industrial group Thyssenkrupp said it planned to lay off 11,000 steel workers, representing 40% of employees in that division, owing to rising competition from China.
“In a world where China has become the “new Germany” — at least in manufacturing — Germany’s old macro business model of cheap energy and easily accessible large export markets is no longer working,” Carsten Brzeski, head of global macro for ING, wrote in a note last month.
A representative for Bosch didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bosch’s struggles
Bosch, which is one of Germany’s biggest private employers, announced in November it would be reducing working hours for 450 employees from between 38-40 hours per week to 35 hours per week on lower pay, effectively creating an unwanted four-day week.
The group also initially said it would lay off 5,500 workers as part of further cost-cutting measures. The company’s chairman Stefan Hartung had previously announced that Bosch wouldn’t meet its financial targets for 2024.
Bosch extended the unpopular reduced hours policy to 10,000 workers days later in a sign of the massive uphill battle the company faces in addressing its finances.
Speaking following the announcement last month, a Bosch spokesperson said: “The mobility sector is undergoing a profound transformation. Global vehicle production is expected to be stagnant this year at around 93 million units, if not even slightly down on the previous year. Bosch expects only a slight recovery next year. The automotive industry is suffering from significant excess capacity and the competitive and price pressure have intensified,” they added.
Bosch’s Sell said he couldn’t rule out strike action akin to demonstrations at Volkswagen in 2025.
Written by Ryan Hogg for Fortune as “German giant Bosch’s workers left in ‘absolutely unbearable’ environment amid plans for up to 10,000 layoffs” and republished with permission.
