STUTTGART, Germany, Feb 13 (Reuters) - On a dark February morning at Mercedes-Benz's vast Untertuerkheim plant, workers arriving for the early shift are met by activists from Zentrum, a self-styled union affiliated with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
"Game-changer," reads the pamphlet they are handing out ahead of elections to the factory's works council, at which Zentrum aims to challenge mainstream unions it says have failed to shield the automotive industry from thousands of job cuts.
Currently confined to the fringes of auto union politics, the far right hopes to harness anxieties among workers in Germany's powerhouse industry to build grassroots influence that could help the AfD on a national stage. The country's carmakers are struggling with the shift to EVs andChinese competition.
"We have established ourselves," said Oliver Hilburger, 56, who founded Zentrum in 2009 and himself works at the plant in Stuttgart.
Reuters spoke to about a dozen trade union and works council representatives and officials in the auto sector ahead of the elections, held by companies across Germany every four years, as well as politicians and activists.
The premier of one of Germany's 16 states, several senior members of the national gove
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