As Stabilus and Novelis Wrap Up Job-Cut Talks, ZF's Koblenz Workers Await Their Fate
17.06.2026 - 20:03:47 | boerse-global.de
At ZF's Eitorf site, the countdown has begun. The plant is set to close completely by the end of 2027, with piston rod production moving to Turkey. From a peak of 690 employees, only around 470 remain in the factory; some 240 have already transferred to a transitional employment company. Despite the looming shutdown, production of shock absorbers is running at full capacity: roughly 1.8 million units leave the Eitorf plant each year, driven by major clients like Volkswagen.
Meanwhile, the mood at ZF's Koblenz-Kesselheim site is one of tense waiting. A works meeting scheduled for June 18 for about 2,100 employees was postponed by a week. The two sides—management and employee representatives—are still wrestling over the future of the location. Negotiations have already yielded one partial result: in March 2026, the company reached a deal to spin off Division U as part of a broader restructuring. But the broader shape of the site's future remains unclear.
That tension stands in sharp contrast to neighbouring suppliers. Both Stabilus and Novelis have already concluded their talks on job cuts. Most notably, Novelis signed a deal in Koblenz at the end of May 2026 that rules out compulsory redundancies. The local branch of IG Metall kicked off a collective bargaining survey in early June to gauge workers' mood, underlining the pressure for a swift resolution.
The trouble at ZF is symptomatic of a deeper malaise gripping Germany's automotive industry. BMW has signalled restructuring measures that point to job cuts of up to five percent worldwide, with the Chinese market a particular concern. Volkswagen, meanwhile, has cut production of the T-Roc Cabrio in Osnabrück and introduced a four-day week for the 2,300 employees on site. The works council warns that work there is visibly running out. Across the VW group, plans call for roughly 19,000 job cuts by the end of 2026, rising to more than 28,000 by 2030. Ahead of its June 18 annual general meeting, VW's management faced criticism for proposing dividends of €2.6 billion—even though group profit had slumped 44 percent the previous year.
It is in this pressured environment that ZF's management is pushing for cost reductions, which explains the drawn-out talks in Koblenz. The IG Metal has consistently opposed any sale or full spin-off of Division E, the unit for electrified drives, where a joint approach was agreed in summer 2025 with a deadline for concrete deals by the end of September 2025. For now, the focus remains on Koblenz, where a resolution is still elusive, even as workers at competing supplier plants already know where they stand.
