VW: IG-Metall is calling for warning strikes at nine locations on Monday

IG Metall is calling for warning strikes at nine of the ten German Volkswagen locations today. The strike is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. in Zwickau, followed by Wolfsburg and other locations from 10 a.m., as the union announced. In addition to Zwickau and Wolfsburg, the factories affected are in Hanover, Emden, Kassel-Baunatal, Braunschweig, Salzgitter and Chemnitz as well as the “Gläserne Manufaktur” in Dresden.

In all affected factories, production will be “temporarily on hold,” announced Lower Saxony’s IG Metall district manager Thorsten Gröger. The strike is scheduled to begin at most locations at the same time as Wolfsburg at 10 a.m., Dresden and Kassel-Baunatal will follow at 12 p.m. and 12.30 p.m.

The warning strike will last around two hours and will then be repeated in every shift, said a spokesman. In between, normal production takes place.

It was only at the weekend that the peace obligation at Europe’s largest car manufacturer, in which labor disputes were not permitted, expired. “Now there are warning strikes that the company cannot ignore,” said Gröger. “If necessary, this will be one of the toughest conflicts Volkswagen has ever seen.”

In Wolfsburg, a rally is planned this morning directly at the board high-rise, where negotiators Gröger and works council boss Daniela Cavallo want to speak. There will be further rallies in Zwickau, Emden, Chemnitz, Dresden and Salzgitter, among others, and in Hanover and Braunschweig with previous demonstrations.

The conflict is about the pay of around 120,000 employees in the Volkswagen AG plants, where a separate in-house tariff applies. In addition, there are more than 10,000 employees at VW Sachsen, for whom an alignment with the company wage agreement was agreed in 2021.

VW has so far refused any increase and is instead demanding a ten percent wage cut due to the company’s difficult situation. Plant closures and layoffs for operational reasons are also on the table. Both sides will meet on December 9th for the next round of collective bargaining.

“At the negotiating table, Volkswagen was not prepared to find a viable solution to the collective bargaining dispute,” said Dirk Schulze, the IG Metall district manager responsible for Berlin, Brandenburg and Saxony. “Therefore, warning strikes must increase the pressure on management.”

According to information from union circles, the two-hour warning strike is likely to lead to the breakdown of more than a thousand vehicles that could not be built. According to Volkswagen, it has taken precautions to minimize the impact of the temporary work stoppages. The company said it had taken targeted measures to ensure emergency supplies.

There are no warning strikes in Osnabrück today. The VW plant, which fears for its future, is the only German VW location that does not fall under the in-house tariff that is currently being fought over. There had already been warning strikes in the collective bargaining dispute for the metal and electrical industries.

The last time there were widespread warning strikes at all major plants in West Germany was in 2018. According to IG Metall, more than 50,000 employees took part in Wolfsburg, Hanover, Emden, Kassel-Baunatal, Braunschweig and Salzgitter. For the plants in Zwickau, Chemnitz and Dresden, a gradual adjustment to the in-house tariff until 2027 was only agreed in 2021.