Conflict at Volkswagen: Board of Directors terminates collective agreements

The conflict between Volkswagen and the employee side is coming to a head: According to IG Metall, the VW board is planning to terminate numerous company collective agreements. The works council is already announcing resistance - the peace obligation will end at the turn of the year.

In the struggle for stricter austerity measures, Volkswagen has terminated a number of collective agreements. From the company's perspective, various regulations in these contracts need to be adjusted in view of the current cost pressure, the car manufacturer announced in Hanover. According to IG Metall, there are ten collective agreements, including the important collective agreement.

This affects, for example, the collectively agreed additional remuneration, in which employees can choose between six additional days off or a payment of 27.5 percent of a monthly income. In addition, agreements on other allowances, the general collective agreement with its working time rules and training could be affected.

According to employee representatives, the first consequences could not occur until January 2027 at the earliest. However, possible dismissals would have no impact on the future collective agreement from 2024 and the job security agreed therein until the end of 2030.

Representatives from Volkswagen, IG Metall and the works council meet in Hanover for a so-called review meeting. The employees who originally scheduled the conversation are demanding clarity as to whether and how VW will comply with the promises made in the 2024 collective agreement. They see these agreements at risk in view of the significantly tightened austerity plans. In return, management wants to explain why, in its view, the savings agreed at the time are no longer sufficient.

According to information from company circles, Volkswagen prepared a termination of collective agreements before the conversation. This also applies to the collective collective agreement, which contains numerous basic regulations for the more than 100,000 VW employees in Germany. In total, the VW in-house tariff consists of 13 individual contracts.

IG Metall and the works council announce their resistance. “This is a bad foul on the workforce and another shameless attempt to reach into the employees’ wallets,” said Lower Saxony IG Metall boss Thorsten Gröger. The union will not accept that business costs and risks should be shifted to the workforce while profits are privatized.

Works council boss Daniela Cavallo spoke of blackmail and announced resistance to the move. "I expect a heated argument at the turn of the year." Then the peace obligation ends in the collective remuneration agreement, which has also been terminated - strikes would then be possible.