This is a major milestone on the path to co-determination. Nine out of 13 seats went to the metalworkers in the recent works council election at MBition.

MBition is headquartered in Berlin and is a full owned subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz Group AG. The company refers to Berlin as the „Silicon Valley of Europe“. More than 1,000 employees are developing software for Mercedes-Benz vehicles in Berlin and at the second operating site in Sofia, Bulgaria. In recent years, the plant’s workforce has been remarkably expanded. As in many companies in the digital economy, the staff is marked by highly international and diverse backgrounds. 

“I'm incredibly proud of the many colleagues at MBition I work with for making the same strong statement our list name stood for: A better world is possible. Thanks to their tremendous support, the employees of MBition will have a strong works council that can bring strong representation. The mandate is already clear: MBitioners everywhere are excited for us to get started”, said the newly elected Chairwoman Victoria Fischer. 

Christopher Schlichting, Deputy Chairman of the Works Council, already represented the interests of his colleagues within the former works council. He is delighted with the great support from employees for the IG Metall list: “The landslide victory of our IG Metall list during the works council at MBition is a clear statement for the wish for strong employee representation and that union representation and a collective bargaining agreement are a viable option for the automotive tech industry. We highly appreciate the active and passive support of everyone!” Schlichting would like to go one step further with his colleagues who joined the union at MBition and is campaigning for a collective bargaining agreement in the future. 

"The great popularity of our IG Metall list is also an incentive for us to convince even more colleagues of the benefits of a collective agreement at MBition and to organize them to join our union IG Metall. With a works council and collective agreement, we are a big step closer to our goals of transparency, fairness and security." 

Ina Beßenroth-Mörner, candidate on the IG Metall list, adds: "I am very pleased about the clear vote for our list and am convinced that it strengthens the position of all of us employees. Thanks to everyone who supported us. Now it is important for the new works council to get set up and be a strong and equitable employee representative body." 

Thomas Weber, the supervising trade union officer of IG Metall, congratulates the IG Metall works council members on their strong win: "The candidates on the IG Metall list have won over many employees. We will actively support the new committee as best as we can." Weber also highlights the good voter turnout: "The fact that more than half of the employees cast their vote is not self-evident. In tech companies, where many people work remotely and, due to it’s international staff, have little experience in works councils and German labor laws, the high voter turnout is very remarkable. It seems like the works council has quickly taking root at MBition.“ 

As part of the activist conference in the penultimate week of April, colleagues from CARIAD, Otis and Siemens, together with union officers from IG Metall, spoke with MBition employees about the works council election in front of the company headquarters in Berlin. The metalworkers brought their experience from the digital economy to IG Metall Berlin.