VOLKSWAGEN (VW) workers across Germany plan to stage walkouts starting on Monday (Dec 2) after labour leaders and management failed to reach an agreement over how to slash costs at the carmaker’s namesake brand.
“If necessary, this will be the toughest collective bargaining battle Volkswagen has ever seen,” said Thorsten Groeger, the IG Metall union’s lead negotiator in the VW talks. Warning strikes will begin at all plants, he added.
“Volkswagen has set fire to our collective agreements,” Groeger said, adding that actions by management were making the situation worse.
The company is seeking a constructive dialogue to achieve a jointly supported solution, a Volkswagen spokesperson said on Sunday, adding that the company has taken specific measures in response to the planned walkouts.
Volkswagen on Friday dismissed the unionists’ most recent proposals to avoid factory closures as insufficient.
VW’s management and labour leaders have been at loggerheads over how to cope with a drop in demand for electric vehicles, higher operational costs and increasing competition from Chinese manufacturers.
While management has said the company needs to shutter three German factories and lay off thousands of workers, union representatives have pushed to keep plants open.
In Germany, unions often organise warning strikes – or temporary walkouts – to put pressure on management when wage negotiations are deadlocked.
VW’s corporate structure gives workers a strong voice in key decisions, making it difficult for management to unilaterally push through painful cost cuts. Employee representatives occupy half of the company’s supervisory board seats, while VW’s home state of Lower Saxony holds an additional two seats. BLOOMBERG
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