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 might 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 confused that its prices are extreme and revenue margins too low, notably 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 big’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 longer term” within the opening talks, Groeger mentioned.
“Plant closures and mass layoffs stay on the desk,” Groeger mentioned.
Europe’s largest carmaker shocked its 300,000 workers in Germany this month when it mentioned 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 have been introduced ahead by a month, with talks held Wednesday in Hanover.
Exterior the negotiation room, Volkswagen workers 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, mentioned after the talks.
The producer has been hit onerous by excessive manufacturing prices, a stuttering change to electrical autos, and rising competitors in key market China.
“We’re vulnerable to being overtaken by worldwide competitors,” he mentioned. “We due to this fact should take motion. To stay aggressive, now we have to comprehensively restructure Volkswagen collectively now.”
Volkswagen rejected the union’s proposal of a seven-percent pay rise for workers, Meiswinkel mentioned.
“We have to decrease prices, not increase them,” he mentioned, including that the group’s financial savings program would “require a contribution from workers.
On the demonstration exterior, Volkswagen employee Diana Hein, 47, informed 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 scenario once more,” mentioned Hein, a union consultant on the group’s flagship manufacturing unit in Wolfsburg.
Administration wanted to be extra “clear” about their plans, she mentioned.
READ: Volkswagen weighs employees reductions as electrical shift stalls
“We don’t have an idea for the longer term for the time being – solely financial savings plans,” mentioned Jan-Soeren Luehr, 37, who additionally works on the Wolfsburg plant and is lively 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 consists of Seat, Skoda, Porsche, and Audi.
Stephan Weil, premier of Decrease Saxony state, which is a serious shareholder in Volkswagen, counselled in opposition to large-scale job cuts.
“We count on all these concerned to discover a joint approach ahead,” Weil informed deputies within the regional parliament in Hanover.
Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume mentioned this week he wished to agree a “bundle” of measures by the tip of the 12 months to shore up the struggling carmaker.
However staff representatives mentioned Volkswagen had didn’t put any proposals on the desk.
“I anticipated that if the corporate says it needs to resolve the scenario shortly… they may inform us what they’re fascinated about,” Daniela Cavallo, head of the highly effective works council, informed reporters.
The dearth of readability meant that “concern will improve” amongst workers, Cavallo mentioned.
Groeger reminded administration that the commercial peace obligation on staff would elapse on the finish of November.
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“As now we have seen right now, the workforce is prepared to exit into the streets for our calls for,” he mentioned.
