The row is over plans to produce more C-class in South Africa

More than 60,000 DaimlerChrysler staff walked out of Mercedes Benz plants in Germany on Thursday in protest at its plans to cut 500m euros in costs.

DaimlerChrysler has warned that up to 6,000 jobs could be transferred abroad if its plans are not adopted.

Unions claim the plans would force Mercedes staff to work longer hours.

DaimlerChrysler has threatened to transfer more production of its C-Class Mercedes model to South Africa.

It says it won't carry out the move if staff agree to major annual savings.

It wants to cut annual costs at the Mercedes plants by 500m euros($617.5m; �334m).

The cuts, DaimlerChrysler management said, would come from lower allowances for extra work, holidays and bonuses.

Ideological positions

In an interview with Financial Times Deutschland, Mr Schroeder called on employers and unions to be more flexible over working arrangements.

"Those who dig ideological trenches on this issue are making people nervous and therefore harming the economy," Mr Schroeder said.

Several German companies, particularly within the auto sector, are pressing for a return to a 40 hour week without extra pay as a way of improving productivity.

Those who dig ideological trenches on this issue are making people nervous and therefore harming the economy Gerhard Schroeder

Mr Schroeder said companies should determine their working hours on an individual basis.

He said: "My advice is to regulate these issues within the company and talk about it as little as possible."

German union IG Metall has dismissed DaimlerChrysler's plans as a threat and called it "blackmail."

A spokeswoman for the company said negotiations will continue on 20 and 21 July, after talks on Wednesday and last week failed to produce results.

Strikers

Over 30,000 workers have so far protested.

At Sindelfingen, the company's biggest plant, 20,000 stopped working for about two hours.

Around 10,000 walked out at Untertuerkheim, another Mercedes site near Stuttgart, in one of Germany's wealthiest regions.

About 2,000 nightshift workers stayed outside the factory at the DaimlerChrysler plants in Hamburg and D�sseldorf.

DaimlerChrysler employs about 160,000 people in Germany and of those, say the works council, around half could stop working.