Banks: Verdi calls for nationwide warning strikes at private banks

Berlin. IG Metall and the VW works council are demanding that Volkswagen withdraw the termination of almost all company collective agreements. “We expect Volkswagen to reverse the breach of trust,” said negotiator Thorsten Gröger, head of IG Metall Lower Saxony, on Friday before the start of another round of talks with the company in Hanover.

Otherwise it would have far-reaching consequences. “We are giving the company until the end of October,” he added, “otherwise a huge machine will roll in to prepare for a labor dispute at VW.” Management can already mark December 31st in its calendar, when the peace obligation ends and strikes are possible.

The Volkswagen Group is in crisis, especially because of the slump in sales in China. The company wants to reduce labor costs to become more competitive against cheaper Chinese competitors. Therefore, a total of almost 100,000 jobs in Germany are to be eliminated; four plants are in question.

At the end of September, VW terminated ten of its twelve company collective agreements with IG Metall with the aim of lowering the collective bargaining level across many adjustments and reducing personnel costs. The board has not yet submitted any requests for this, explained works council boss Daniela Cavallo. The management's commitments to new products for VW plants, which were agreed in return for a billion-dollar waiver by the workforce in 2024, are still pending. The mood in the workforce is therefore bad. "There is great unrest. The workforce sees this as a huge affront, it is a declaration of war."