Auto industry: VW crisis: IG Metall and works council present master plan

In the struggle for cuts at VW, IG Metall and the works council are planning a counter-proposal to the tough cuts planned by the group. One day before the third round of collective bargaining in Wolfsburg, they want to present the key points of their own overall concept for the future of the car manufacturer, as the union and the works council announced. Works council head Daniela Cavallo and IG Metall district manager Thorsten Gröger want to present their ideas for the recovery of the ailing company.

Since the savings plans became known at the beginning of September, Cavallo and Gröger had asked the group several times to present a concrete overall concept for the future of all locations. Because, Cavallo said in September: “We see a lot of adjustments that we can make in order to reduce costs without immediately questioning entire locations.” So far, the group has failed to set such a target. Now she wants to present such a concept together with IG Metall.

“There is no question that Volkswagen has major challenges,” said Gröger back in September. And the union wants to be part of “a real, sustainable solution”. After all, no one has more interest in the company being positioned for the future than the employees themselves. The aim is to secure locations, capacity utilization and employment in the long term. IG Metall firmly rejects the wage cuts demanded by VW, as well as any plant closures and layoffs that are being discussed.

Cavallo outlines Master Plan 2035

Cavallo had already outlined the core elements for such a “Master Plan 2025 – 2030 – 2035” at a works meeting at the beginning of September. This is about the product substance of Wolfsburg, which needs to improve. “Volkswagen has always been successful when we have impressed our customers with strong products,” Cavallo said at the time. “Currently, however, decisions that have already been made are repeatedly being reversed. And products and projects are being postponed.” Above all, the group is missing an affordable entry-level electric model, which is not due to launch until 2026 with the ID.2.

In addition, the group must be back at the forefront technologically and then bring the products to customers quickly. “We need significant leaps, especially in the areas of software, on-time startups and customer acceptance,” said Cavallo at the time. “And everything that is ultimately not relevant to our technological leadership and therefore not a deciding factor for our customers’ purchasing needs to be reconsidered.”

Specifically, this means: “Our complexity must be reduced, we must address our obsession with rules, we must stop our documentation madness.” And the group must reduce duplication of work by the individual brands. “We have to create synergies and not develop things twice or three times and thus burn money,” says Cavallo, who is a business economist herself. “We are therefore calling for a readjustment of the management model in the group with a clear focus on the Volkswagen brand. The Volkswagen brand is and remains the core of the Volkswagen Group.”

With regard to finances, Cavallo demanded at the time: “Especially in challenging times, we need the courage to invest even in the crisis and thus lay the foundation for the innovations of tomorrow.” This applies, for example, to new models in the volume segment. This will improve the capacity utilization of the plants, which will reduce costs. “This is the only way we will be able to emerge from this situation stronger and sustainably successful.” Everything else is blind saving.