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 going down 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 burdened that its prices are extreme and revenue margins too low, significantly at its core VW model. (Picture 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 hundreds of staff picketed the assembly.
The dialogue with administration was “disappointing, even sobering,” Thorsten Groeger, lead negotiator for the IG Metall union, informed reporters.
Volkswagen “didn’t concretize its proposal and didn’t sketch out an idea for the long run” 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 staff 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 workers 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.
Exterior the negotiation room, Volkswagen staff from crops throughout Germany carried banners criticising administration and created a deafening refrain of whistles to indicate their disapproval.
‘Uncertainty’ at Volkswagen
The scenario at Volkswagen was “critical,” the administration’s lead negotiator, Arne Meiswinkel, stated after the talks.
The producer has been hit arduous by excessive manufacturing prices, a stuttering swap to electrical automobiles, and rising competitors in key market China.
“We’re liable to being overtaken by worldwide competitors,” he stated. “We subsequently need to take motion. To stay aggressive, we’ve 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 staff.
On the demonstration outdoors, Volkswagen employee Diana Hein, 47, informed Agence France-Presse the shock announcement had created a way of “uncertainty” amongst staff.
“Once they shut one manufacturing unit now, in two or three years it will likely be the identical scenario 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 workers reductions as electrical shift stalls
“We don’t have an idea for the long run for the time being – 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 manner ahead,” Weil informed deputies within the regional parliament in Hanover.
Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume stated this week he needed to agree a “bundle” of measures by the tip of the 12 months to shore up the struggling carmaker.
However staff representatives stated Volkswagen had did not put any proposals on the desk.
“I anticipated that if the corporate says it desires to resolve the scenario rapidly… they’ll inform us what they’re fascinated with,” Daniela Cavallo, head of the highly effective works council, informed reporters.
The shortage of readability meant that “concern will improve” amongst staff, Cavallo stated.
Groeger reminded administration that the commercial peace obligation on staff would elapse on the finish of November.
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“As we’ve seen at the moment, the workforce is keen to exit into the streets for our calls for,” he stated.
