FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The Mercedes-Benz works council expects the German car manufacturer to dole out a record-high bonus to its employees while anticipating bumper profits for the financial year, the works council chief said in an interview published on Friday.
“So far, annual profit-sharing has been limited to a maximum of 6,450 euros ($6,617). This cap should be abolished,” Ergun Luemali told Reuters.
“We need a new calculation formula so that the workforce can now share in the increased profit if the return is kept at a significantly higher level,” he said.
Last year, Mercedes paid 6,000 euros to 100,000 of its employees, compared to 3,000 euros for Volkswagen workers and up to 9,000 euros for BMW workers.
According to analyst forecasts, Mercedes-Benz’s operating profit will increase by almost a fifth, to 19 billion euros, in 2022.
Mercedes-Benz raised its full-year profit forecast last month as strong demand for luxury cars and cost savings offset the supply chain bottlenecks that have hampered industry output this year.
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(Reporting by Ilona Wissenbach; writing by Matthias Williams; editing by Miranda Murray)