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Employee council chief Daniela Cavallo said at a meeting with
Volkswagen workers at the company's Wolfsburg headquarters that
management also plans cuts at other sites, and pledged to resist
the plans, German news agency dpa reported. She said that “all
German VW plants are affected by these plans. None is safe."
There was no immediate comment from the company itself.
Volkswagen said in early September that auto industry headwinds
mean it can’t rule out plant closures in its home country, and
must drop a job protection pledge in force since 1994 that would
have barred layoffs through 2029. CEO Oliver Blume cited new
competitors entering European markets, Germany’s deteriorating
position as a manufacturing location and the need to “act
decisively.”
European automakers are facing increased competition from
inexpensive Chinese electric cars. Volkswagen said last month
that the company’s half-year results indicated it would not
achieve its target of 10 billion euros ($10.8 billion) in cost
savings by 2026.
Volkswagen has some 120,000 employees in Germany, where it has
10 plants — six of them in the northern state of Lower Saxony,
including Wolfsburg.
The IG Metall industrial union sharply criticized VW's reported
closure plans. “We expect that, instead of cutback fantasies,
sustainable concepts for the future be sketched out by
Volkswagen and its management at the negotiating table,”
regional union leader Thorsten Gröger said.
Pay negotiations between Volkswagen and the union are due to
resume on Wednesday.
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