VW workers continue protests while employers and unions negotiate

Relations between workers and employers remain tense at Volkswagenwhere management’s plan to implement drastic cost-cutting measures clashes with union demands, including a 7% salary increase

Both sides met on Wednesday at the Herrenhausen Palace in Hanoverwhere collective bargaining negotiations turned into talks on strict austerity measures. Before the negotiations, Daniela Cavallohead of the Volkswagen Group (VW) Works Council, said that issues of job security were “non-negotiable.”

“We are betting on Germany”

Arne MeiswinkelVW’s chief negotiator, outlined the company’s view: “The situation at our headquarters in Germany is very serious.” He continued: “Today, in the first round, we are assessing the initial situation. We are betting on Germany as a business location and industrial jobs. However, this requires a high level of competitiveness.”

The address has rejected the demands of Germany’s largest unionIG Metall, in the words of Meiswinkel: “We need sustained cost reduction and a future-proof structure for the working conditions covered by our collective agreement.”

He said that car manufacturers had to reduce labor costs in Germany and to use temporary workers. “We will only be able to maintain our leading position and safeguard jobs in the long term if we work more economically, which cannot be achieved without a contribution from the workers,” he said.

At the end of the three hours of negotiationsIG Metall negotiator Daniel Friedrich said: “Our demands and arguments have been known to us for months. It is a shame that The employers’ association has not presented an offer today“We hope that they will engage in serious negotiations quickly and present employees with a substantial offer in the second round of negotiations.”

The Volkswagen collective agreement applies to approximately 120,000 workers from its plants in Wolfsburg, Braunschweig, Hanover, Salzgitter, Emden and Kassel. As Euronews Business has already reported, the carmaker has been hit hard by rising manufacturing costs, declining sales in Europe and fierce competition in China, a key market. Disappointing sales of electric vehicles have also cost it dearly.

Earlier this month, VW denied a report that some 30,000 jobs were at risk, but revealed it was considering several cost-cutting measures. These included ending a commitment to job protection three-decade-old law that would have banned cuts until 2029.

In addition, for the first time in its 87-year history, the car manufacturer Closing plants in Germany is plannedFollowing the announcement, negotiations for a new wage agreement were brought forward and the first round of negotiations lasted three hours. No agreement was reached.