Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
Schaeffler AG, a German automotive components manufacturer, announced the elimination of 3,460 jobs across Europe, mostly in Germany, with 2,660 redundancies.
Of the 3,460 planned job cuts across Europe, around 2,660 will be in Germany and 800 elsewhere in Europe. In Germany, the Dortmund plant, with 430 employees, and Morbach site, with 160 employees, are planned to close, as are the Berlin operation, with around 270 employees, and the Schwalbach site. Most of Schwalbach's approximately 385 employees are expected to transfer to Schaeffler's Frankfurt site, with around 190 positions affected by the restructuring. Outside Germany, production and development capacities will be adjusted in Haguenau and Toulouse in France and Skalica and Kysuce in Slovakia, while the Herstal production site in Belgium, with around 15 employees, will close.
About 50 % of the positions cut will come from production activities, 30 % from R&D and 20 % from other functional areas.
Workers' representatives and management have been engaged in dialogue throughout the process; the company has stated that the restructuring will be implemented socially responsibly with ongoing communication with employee organisations and works councils. The programme also incorporates voluntary salary concessions across all hierarchical levels and a possibility of relocation to Frankfurt for certain workers. The company expects some of the reductions in its automotive activities to be offset by new jobs in growth areas, particularly humanoid robotics and defence.
Schaeffler AG employs around 110 000 people worldwide.
Eurofound (2026), Schaeffler, Internal restructuring in European Union, factsheet number 301373, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/301373.
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