In the midst of the crisis at VW, the carmaker’s wage negotiations are starting today. This time, it’s not just about money. The fronts are hardened.
In the struggle over the new savings plans at VW, the company and the union are meeting for the first time today for negotiations. Both sides want to meet in Hanover from 11 a.m., as VW and the union announced. Their positions are far apart.
While VW is pushing for savings in personnel costs, IG Metall wants to prevent cuts. “We will not talk about plant closures and mass layoffs,” said Lower Saxony’s IG Metall district manager Thorsten Gröger before the negotiations. Works council chairwoman Daniela Cavallo, who is also at the negotiating table for IG Metall, had previously described both as clear red lines.
The wage negotiations, originally planned for the end of October, were brought forward after VW tightened its austerity measures at the beginning of the month. Instead of just wages, negotiations are also to focus on the job security that VW has terminated. Initially, only the approximately 120,000 employees in the six large West German plants that are covered by VW’s in-house wage agreement are affected. VW Saxony has its own regulations. VW also terminated job security there yesterday.
What IG Metall demands
IG Metall called on VW to first put concrete savings plans on the table so that negotiations could begin. So far, apart from the termination of several collective agreements, there have been no details on possible layoffs and plant closures. VW is now “pouring additional fuel on the fire,” criticized Gröger. Instead, they need “a viable future concept for all locations” that does not involve plant closures and mass layoffs.
In the wage negotiations that are also taking place, IG Metall is demanding a seven percent pay increase for the industry and also at VW. There will be no cuts for VW here either. Strikes will also be possible from December. That is when the obligation to maintain peace will end at VW.
This is what VW wants
VW Group CEO Oliver Blume, on the other hand, is pushing for concessions from IG Metall: “I expect there to be significant movement there to make progress on the cost side,” he said on Monday on ZDF. At the same time, he stressed: “We will fight for every job here in Germany, that is quite clear. But the basis for this is that we significantly reduce costs across all areas.” The aim is to reach an agreement by the end of the year.
At the beginning of the month, the group intensified its austerity measures at the core Volkswagen brand and terminated the job security that had been in place for 30 years. According to “Manager Magazin”, up to 30,000 jobs could be lost in the medium term. The closure of entire plants is also no longer ruled out. According to Chief Financial Officer Arno Antlitz, the group lacks sales for around two plants. VW also wants to reduce the pay of temporary workers and take on fewer trainees.
Negotiations under time pressure
Both sides are under time pressure in the talks: If no agreement is reached, the job guarantee would mean that the concessions to the workforce that were agreed 30 years ago, such as waiving holiday and Christmas bonuses, would also be lost. Instead of saving money, it would actually become more expensive for VW, criticizes IG Metall. VW has already threatened that in this case “redundancies for operational reasons cannot be ruled out.” This would be possible after a transition period of six months from July 2025.
Source: Stern
