The short-time work is scheduled to start sometime after Easter, with each plant having its specific output reduction. Daimler AG said that there is still high demand for special vehicles such as the almighty Unimog, the Mercedes-Benz Econic and for Mercedes-Benz and Setra buses.
The initial short-work measure is expected to last until the end of this year's summer holidays, so this isn't just a mild "a month or so" production reduction (hey, it rhymes!). Approximately 18,000 employees working at the Wörth, Gaggenau, Kassel and Manheim truck plants will have to be subjected to either short-time work or even entire shut down days.
Each plant's specific measures are as follows. Around 7,500 employees from the Wörth plant will begin their new program from May 4 until the end of the summer holidays. Since the Unimog and the Mercedes-Benz Econic are also built here, employees working for these two lines won't be affected.
Approximately 3,800 employees working at the Gaggenau plant will start working short-hours from April 22. Almost 1,300 workers from the Mercedes-Benz plant in Kassel will begin their new program starting with April 14 until "likely" August 31. Last but not least, roughly 3,500 employees from the truck plant in Mannheim will have a short-time work period expected to start from April 6 and probably end in September.
As far as paychecks for the affected workers go, apparently some of them won't be that affected by the crisis, since Daimler AG has special packages for this kind of situations. Apparently, the employees benefit from the same type of remuneration stipulations that are in effect in the Daimler AG passenger car plants in Germany.
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