The small silver star at the tip of Aleksandar Djordjevic’s Mercedes shines bright. He polishes it every week.

Djordjevic makes combustion engines for Daimler, one of Germany’s flagship carmakers. He has a salary of around €60,000 (about $70,000), eight weeks of vacation and a guarantee negotiated by the union that he cannot be fired until 2030. He owns a two-story house and that E-class 250 model Mercedes in his driveway.

All of that is why Djordjevic polishes the star on his car.