Numerous Volkswagen Employees Hold Strikes Throughout Germany
WV employees staged a walkout to protest the company's plans to shut down factories in Germany and make significant workforce reductions. Read Full Article at RT.com.
TroibNews 
Tens of thousands of Volkswagen workers are engaged in strikes at various plants throughout Germany on Monday in response to the company’s plans for mass layoffs and factory closures.
Labor union IG Metall reports that workers are protesting at nine of VW's German facilities, including its headquarters in Wolfsburg. Additional walkouts occurred at the Hanover plant, which employs around 14,000 individuals, as well as at other factories located in Emden, Salzgitter, and Brunswick.
According to union sources cited by Reuters, a two-hour strike at the main plant in Wolfsburg alone has resulted in the halted production of several hundred vehicles, including the well-known Golf model.
These strikes, anticipated to last several hours, come after a mandatory peace period that restricted industrial action between workers and the company expired on Saturday.
Volkswagen has been in negotiations with unions for several weeks regarding its plans to restructure its business to stay competitive due to rising energy costs and decreased demand in both China and Europe.
“If necessary, this will become the toughest wage dispute Volkswagen has ever seen,” said Thorsten Groeger, the chief negotiator of labor union IG Metall, in a statement on Sunday. He emphasized that the duration and intensity of the dispute would depend on “Volkswagen’s responsibility at the negotiating table.”
The fourth round of negotiations is scheduled for December 9. According to Daniela Cavallo, head of Volkswagen’s works council, this meeting will determine whether both sides can reach an agreement or if tensions will escalate further.
VW has indicated that 120,000 of its workers might need to accept a 10% pay cut, and the company has suggested the closure of three of its ten German factories. However, the exact number of layoffs among its roughly 300,000 employees in Germany has not been disclosed publicly.
Historically, VW has never shut down a plant in Germany during its nearly 90 years of operation; the last plant closure took place in 1988 in the United States.
Germany's automotive industry is facing significant challenges due to soaring energy costs, sluggish demand in Europe, increasing competition from Chinese manufacturers, and a slower-than-anticipated transition to electric vehicles.
These difficulties in the automotive sector have raised concerns regarding the overall health of Germany’s economy, the largest in the European Union, which already experienced a recession last year.
Camille Lefevre contributed to this report for TROIB News
Labor union IG Metall reports that workers are protesting at nine of VW's German facilities, including its headquarters in Wolfsburg. Additional walkouts occurred at the Hanover plant, which employs around 14,000 individuals, as well as at other factories located in Emden, Salzgitter, and Brunswick.
According to union sources cited by Reuters, a two-hour strike at the main plant in Wolfsburg alone has resulted in the halted production of several hundred vehicles, including the well-known Golf model.
These strikes, anticipated to last several hours, come after a mandatory peace period that restricted industrial action between workers and the company expired on Saturday.
Volkswagen has been in negotiations with unions for several weeks regarding its plans to restructure its business to stay competitive due to rising energy costs and decreased demand in both China and Europe.
“If necessary, this will become the toughest wage dispute Volkswagen has ever seen,” said Thorsten Groeger, the chief negotiator of labor union IG Metall, in a statement on Sunday. He emphasized that the duration and intensity of the dispute would depend on “Volkswagen’s responsibility at the negotiating table.”
The fourth round of negotiations is scheduled for December 9. According to Daniela Cavallo, head of Volkswagen’s works council, this meeting will determine whether both sides can reach an agreement or if tensions will escalate further.
VW has indicated that 120,000 of its workers might need to accept a 10% pay cut, and the company has suggested the closure of three of its ten German factories. However, the exact number of layoffs among its roughly 300,000 employees in Germany has not been disclosed publicly.
Historically, VW has never shut down a plant in Germany during its nearly 90 years of operation; the last plant closure took place in 1988 in the United States.
Germany's automotive industry is facing significant challenges due to soaring energy costs, sluggish demand in Europe, increasing competition from Chinese manufacturers, and a slower-than-anticipated transition to electric vehicles.
These difficulties in the automotive sector have raised concerns regarding the overall health of Germany’s economy, the largest in the European Union, which already experienced a recession last year.
Camille Lefevre contributed to this report for TROIB News
