Volkswagen: works council denounces a “bloodletting” in preparation

STF/AFP

Volkswagen is planning tens of thousands of job cuts, the closure of three factories in Germany and wage cuts in the face of the crisis it is going through, the works council said on Monday, speaking of an unprecedented “bleeding” in more than 80 years of history of the leading European automobile group. 

“The board of directors wants to close at least three VW plants in Germany. It also intends to reduce the size of all remaining plants in the country,” the group's works council chairwoman, Daniela Cavallo, said in a statement, revealing information she had received from management. 

According to her, management is also planning to transfer many of the group's activities and departments currently based in Germany abroad. 

Without immediately confirming these measures, which affect its core VW brand and 120,000 employees, the group's management said in a statement that it had to “attack the problem at its roots” in the company. 

“The European automotive market has lost 2 million vehicles since 2020,” she added. “We are not productive enough at the German sites and the factory costs are currently 25 to 50% higher than we had planned,” she explains, adding that German factories are “twice as expensive” as those of the competition. 

According to the business daily Handelsblatt, the group, the world's second-largest carmaker, intends to save a total of 4 billion euros. 

– Scholz's warning – 

In Berlin, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, via one of his spokesmen, warned of a wave of layoffs. 

“The Chancellor's position is clear: employees should not be affected by any bad decisions made by the management (of Volkswagen) in the past and that the priority now must be to preserve jobs,” said Wolfgang Büchner. 

Volkswagen's plans come at a bad time as the German economy is struggling with a recession and rising unemployment, contributing to the government's high unpopularity. 

The chairwoman of the works council has protested against Volkswagen's “firm intention” to “bleed the industrial sites” of the group in the country dry and cause “mass unemployment” within the VW brand. 

The plan also provides for the 10% reduction in all salaries at VW and their freezing in 2025 and 2026 as well as the elimination of a bonus. In total, this would amount to an 18% drop in

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