Europe’s main vehicle manufacturer is going through a serious crisis due to the fall in global demand and, especially, from China, its main market.
The automotive crisis Volkswagenin Germany, given the drop in demand globally and, especially, from its main market, China, enters a week of strong tensions. The union that brings together the company’s workers today began a strike wave which will affect almost all of Volkswagen’s 10 factories in that country.
This decision is added to that of last week, when almost 100,000 workers left their jobs after management rejected a union proposal that included reducing dividend payments and cutting some bonuses.
A few weeks ago, in a statement, the president of the group’s works council, Daniela Cavallo declared that “The board wants to close at least three VW plants in Germany. It also aims to reduce the size of all remaining plants in the country,”
The plan, presented by the management, includes a 10% salary cut for all employees and the transfer of numerous group activities abroadcurrently in Germany, indicated the president of the works council in a statement.
This stage of conflict is causing million-dollar losses to the automaker, which is the largest automobile manufacturer in Europe. According to specialist estimates, two hours of production interruption at its main plant in Wolfsburg can generate losses between 400 and 600 cars.
These figures not only represent a economic loss directly, but also affect Volkswagen’s image and position in the market.
The strike coincides with the resumption of negotiations for the review of the collective agreementsince workers and managers of the company will meet after the last meeting ended without progress because the company considered IG Metall’s savings proposal insufficient.
The CEO of Volkswagen, Oliver Blumeaddressed 20,000 Volkswagen workers at its Wolfsburg headquarters last week to explain the need to apply wage cuts and close factories, but his explanations fell on deaf ears and was booed.
The manager confronted the workers in a heated meeting in which he tried to justify aggressive staff and salary reductions, since Automaker aims to cut costs by €10 billion amid strong competition from Chinathe fall in global sales and the increase in production costs.
The union proposed a negotiation path to save 1.5 billion euros in labor costs if the company renounced the closure of plants, something that “is still far from being enough to ensure the future of Volkswagen,” in the words of Blume.
Source: Ambito
I’m a recent graduate of the University of Missouri with a degree in journalism. I started working as a news reporter for 24 Hours World about two years ago, and I’ve been writing articles ever since. My main focus is automotive news, but I’ve also written about politics, lifestyle, and entertainment.
