Plant closures and layoffs are under discussion at VW. The economics ministers of the four countries with VW locations have now developed a common position on this.
The four federal states with VW locations – Lower Saxony, Saxony, Hesse and Berlin – want to work together to ensure that the ailing car manufacturer does not close any locations. The full preservation of all locations is the first goal of the economics ministers of these countries, according to a joint position paper. “This means that the individual locations are not played off against each other.” Several media outlets reported on the paper, which was dated October 10th.
The state ministers also reject “hard cuts” at the expense of employees. In the future, a renewed, long-term contract to secure employment must ensure that jobs are protected and know-how is retained, they demand. “Once expertise is lost, it usually remains lost or can only be restored with great effort,” warn Olaf Lies (Lower Saxony), Martin Dulig (Saxony), Kaweh Mansoori (Hesse) and Franziska Giffey (Berlin). All four ministers belong to the SPD.
Volkswagen has terminated the employment security with the unions in Germany that has been in place for decades. Factory closures and redundancies are up for debate. There is bitter resistance to this from the works council and IG Metall.
Source: Stern
