Brose Workers in Würzburg Demand Answers After Owner Floats Plant Closure Beyond 2030
Published on 10/31/2026 at 04:50 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Roughly 400 employees at automotive supplier Brose's Würzburg site gathered for an extraordinary works meeting on Friday morning, seeking clarity about the plant's long-term future after remarks by the company owner raised the spectre of production ending there.
The trigger was a speech by shareholder Michael Stoschek at a managers' meeting in Bamberg on 27 October 2026, attended by 150 executives, in which he spoke of closing the Würzburg plant. According to his remarks, manufacturing there would cease in 2030 and production lines could move abroad. He also noted that the company's new building in Bamberg offers enough space for employees.
Works council chief calls remarks "insolent"
Yves Weinberger, head of the works council, sharply criticised the owner's approach, calling his statements insolent and disrespectful to the workforce.
In response, IG Metall and the works council are pressing company management for an unequivocal commitment to the site's long-term future. Employee representatives made clear they will not accept a closure after 2030 and are campaigning to bring additional production to Würzburg.
Brose, for its part, reaffirmed that the existing site guarantee in Würzburg remains valid through 31 December 2030. That agreement was concluded at the end of 2025 between Brose and IG Metall as part of a future plan, with the associated collective agreement running until the end of 2030. Workers had made concessions the previous year under a supplementary collective agreement to secure it.
A plant that has faced closure before
The uncertainty is not new. Back in 2025, some 1,400 employees feared for the plant's survival before the threatened shutdown was averted for the time being. A central element of the earlier future plans was opening up new business areas: Würzburg is slated to produce small satellites and related components, among other things.
Despite this realignment, the workforce still faces unanswered questions about whether industrial manufacturing will continue at the site after 2030.
