Works council elections scheduled for spring 2026 are shaping up as a crucible for German industry, with Volkswagen’s plan to shed over 100,000 jobs and a surge in far-right activity inside factories raising the stakes. The vote, running from 1 March to 31 May, will elect representatives at a time when the country’s manufacturing backbone faces unprecedented restructuring pressure.
The German Journalists’ Association (DJV) has been distributing information materials and offering advisory services since late June 2025, costs borne by employers. Any employee aged 16 or older can vote; candidates must be at least 18 and have worked at the site for six months. But the next electoral period is expected to be dominated by downsizing and political tension.
Volkswagen is at the centre of the storm. CEO Oliver Blume is pushing a savings programme that would eliminate more than 100,000 positions globally, with four German plants — Zwickau, Emden, Hannover and Neckarsulm — potentially closing by 2035. The supervisory board meets on 9 July 2026; the works council and the state of Lower Saxony together control 12 of 20 votes, making rejection of the plan likely. Some observers speculate the board could call an extraordinary general meeting in August to bypass the supervisory body.
Beyond direct job cuts, VW may sell Ducati and Europcar and trim its stake in Traton from 87 to 75 percent. The five-year investment budget is set to fall by 15 percent to €130 billion. Hesse’s economy minister, Mansoori, has called for transparent communication about the future of sites such as Kassel-Baunatal.
The cost pressures driving these moves are stark. In 2025 German industry’s hourly labour costs stood at €45 — well above the EU average of €34.90, and unit labour costs ran 22 percent higher than comparable industrialised economies. That has prompted economists and managers to demand a return to the 40-hour week. The 35-hour week long standard at Volkswagen is under heavy fire. Mercedes-Benz is also feeling the pinch: first-quarter 2026 profit fell 17.2 percent, following a 2025 full-year profit that had already halved to €5.3 billion.
Meanwhile, political radicalisation is infiltrating shop floors. The 2025 report from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution identified 58,700 individuals classified as far-right extremists, a notable increase fuelled partly by the AfD’s membership growth to 70,000 — of whom 28,000 are under extremism suspicion. In late June, both the works council and management at Saarstahl sharply criticised AfD state leader Becker. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) is attempting to weaken the political cordon sanitaire around the AfD; in a 26 June 2026 letter, BSW leadership proposed selective cooperation with Alice Weidel after state elections in September.
In response, the Greens and the Social Democrats are pushing for a party-ban procedure. A legal opinion from the Society for Freedom Rights (GFF) argues that violations of democratic principles and human dignity provide sufficient grounds. Thomas Selen, head of the domestic intelligence agency, has also warned that the party’s new youth organisations maintain personnel continuities with older extremist structures.
The combination of industrial cost-driven job cuts and rising far-right activity makes the forthcoming works council elections a pivotal moment for Germany’s workforce. As Mansoori put it, transparency about restructuring is critical — but so is the broader fight to keep extremist ideologies out of factory gates.
