Members of the IG Metall metalworkers union display on September 25, 2024, in Hanover, northern Germany, the place talks between unions and the Volkswagen administration are happening following an announcement of German carmaker Volkswagen (VW) that drastic cost-cutting measures are wanted to maintain the carmaker aggressive. – After Volkswagen’s bombshell announcement earlier in September 2024 that it may shut factories in Germany for the primary time, firm administration and unions will start tense talks on a brand new pay deal. Volkswagen has repeatedly careworn that its prices are extreme and revenue margins too low, notably at its core VW model. (Photograph by RONNY HARTMANN / Agence France-Presse)
HANOVER, Germany — Unions on Wednesday criticized Volkswagen for failing to make particular proposals within the first spherical of talks over the German auto large’s drastic cost-cutting plan, as 1000’s of staff picketed the assembly.
The dialogue with administration was “disappointing, even sobering,” Thorsten Groeger, lead negotiator for the IG Metall union, advised reporters.
Volkswagen “didn’t concretize its proposal and didn’t sketch out an idea for the longer term” within the opening talks, Groeger stated.
“Plant closures and mass layoffs stay on the desk,” Groeger stated.
Europe’s greatest carmaker shocked its 300,000 workers in Germany this month when it stated it was contemplating closing factories within the nation – a possible first within the group’s 87-year historical past.
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READ: Volkswagen mulls plant closures and job cuts in Germany
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The transfer sparked employees fury. Representatives accuse Volkswagen’s company leaders of mismanaging the 10-brand group and placing earnings above constructing a sustainable future for the producer.
After Volkswagen’s bombshell announcement, negotiations on a brand new pay deal had been introduced ahead by a month, with talks held Wednesday in Hanover.
Outdoors the negotiation room, Volkswagen workers from vegetation throughout Germany carried banners criticising administration and created a deafening refrain of whistles to indicate their disapproval.
‘Uncertainty’ at Volkswagen
The state of affairs at Volkswagen was “critical,” the administration’s lead negotiator, Arne Meiswinkel, stated after the talks.
The producer has been hit onerous by excessive manufacturing prices, a stuttering swap to electrical autos, and rising competitors in key market China.
“We’re liable to being overtaken by worldwide competitors,” he stated. “We subsequently should take motion. To stay aggressive, we now have to comprehensively restructure Volkswagen collectively now.”
Volkswagen rejected the union’s proposal of a seven-percent pay rise for workers, Meiswinkel stated.
“We have to decrease prices, not increase them,” he stated, including that the group’s financial savings program would “require a contribution from workers.
On the demonstration exterior, Volkswagen employee Diana Hein, 47, advised Agence France-Presse the shock announcement had created a way of “uncertainty” amongst workers.
“After they shut one manufacturing unit now, in two or three years it is going to be the identical state of affairs once more,” stated Hein, a union consultant on the group’s flagship manufacturing unit in Wolfsburg.
Administration wanted to be extra “clear” about their plans, she stated.
READ: Volkswagen weighs employees reductions as electrical shift stalls
“We don’t have an idea for the longer term in the intervening time – solely financial savings plans,” stated Jan-Soeren Luehr, 37, who additionally works on the Wolfsburg plant and is energetic within the union.
Strike menace
The negotiations will set the phrases of employment for staff in Germany, some 120,000 of whom work on the core Volkswagen model.
The Volkswagen Group additionally contains Seat, Skoda, Porsche, and Audi.
Stephan Weil, premier of Decrease Saxony state, which is a serious shareholder in Volkswagen, counselled towards large-scale job cuts.
“We count on all these concerned to discover a joint approach ahead,” Weil advised deputies within the regional parliament in Hanover.
Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume stated this week he needed to agree a “package deal” of measures by the tip of the 12 months to shore up the struggling carmaker.
However staff representatives stated Volkswagen had didn’t put any proposals on the desk.
“I anticipated that if the corporate says it desires to resolve the state of affairs rapidly… they’ll inform us what they’re excited about,” Daniela Cavallo, head of the highly effective works council, advised reporters.
The shortage of readability meant that “concern will enhance” amongst workers, Cavallo stated.
Groeger reminded administration that the economic peace obligation on staff would elapse on the finish of November.
“As we now have seen right this moment, the workforce is keen to exit into the streets for our calls for,” he stated.