Volkswagen is looking for ways to reduce its high labor costs. CEO Blume has envisaged a specific way to do this, for which there are two different implementations. IG Metall is already announcing determined resistance.
VW boss Oliver Blume has discussed higher working hours for the car manufacturer's approximately 130,000 employees in Germany. Labor costs in Germany are about twice as high as in other European countries where VW is active, Blume told the portal “The Pioneer”. In today's competitive situation, some issues have to be questioned.
According to Blume, there are several starting points for reducing labor costs: In addition to increasing annual working hours - for example through fewer vacation days - it may also involve increasing weekly working hours without compensating wages. “This now needs to be negotiated in the next few weeks and months,” said the manager.
On Wednesday, Volkswagen terminated ten collective agreements - including the important collective agreement. This regulates, among other things, working hours and vacation days. From a company perspective, there are various regulations that need to be adjusted in view of cost pressure. With the termination you open the space for negotiations. The employees criticized the move as a “foul on the workforce” - and announced resistance.
About a month ago, the VW supervisory board approved a plan that includes extensive cost-cutting measures - including billions in personnel. The board also wants to cut tens of thousands of jobs.
According to dpa information, there has not yet been a specific demand for how much longer VW employees should work per week. For example, higher weekly working hours could help Volkswagen in areas where there is currently overtime and the car manufacturer needs to hire additional people. More regular hours would immediately reduce costs. However, in areas with excess staff, extending working hours would make no sense, company circles said.
IG Metall in Lower Saxony criticized management's communication towards employees. The terminations of the collective agreements were initially announced through the media. It was only after repeated inquiries that the employers came around the corner. “There are no specific demands associated with the terminations,” said a spokesman. As soon as that happened, the CEO “ranted” publicly about longer working hours. "An explanation to the workforce? Again, none. They can read anything on the Internet or in the newspaper."
The union is clearly positioning itself against an increase in working hours: "IG Metall will do everything it can to prevent any changes to the 35-hour week," said the spokesman. Anyone who demands longer working hours when capacities are underutilized is on the wrong track.
Old fundamental debate reignited
The 35-hour week is standard in the German auto industry for companies subject to collective agreements. It is not legally binding. Mercedes-Benz sparked a fundamental discussion about working hours in the summer. Chairman of the Supervisory Board Martin Brudermüller suggested in the “Handelsblatt” a return to the 40-hour week - for the same salary.
According to the Mercedes board, working hours must become cheaper. “The most direct and, in our opinion, fairest way: We should work more for the same money in all areas,” said the board in a letter to employees in Germany at the end of June.
The new BMW boss Milan Nedeljkovic and entrepreneurs from the industry had also recently questioned the 35-hour week. IG Metall has already made it clear that it will not give up the regulation without a fight. In addition to protests at Mercedes, the union recently demanded: “Hands off the 35-hour week!” at a car day of action with around 175,000 participants.
IG Metall fears that even more jobs could be cut as a result of higher weekly working hours. "With 40 instead of 35 hours, that would be 14.3 percent more working time - an indirect pay reduction through the back door," said the spokesman. The calculation behind it is as simple as it is transparent: If every employee has to work more with the same workload, the calculated personnel requirement will decrease. “More working hours per head also means fewer people are needed.”
