Dusseldorf. IG Metall is increasing the pressure on the board in the dispute over austerity measures at Volkswagen. The union is calling on the car manufacturer to withdraw the termination of ten collective agreements by the end of October. Otherwise, she will prepare for a labor dispute, said negotiator Thorsten Gröger on Friday in Hanover before the second review meeting with the company. “We are not looking for conflict, but we are prepared.”
Gröger expressly referred to the end of the peace obligation on December 31st. The board members should “circle this date on their calendar.” How hard the dispute will be lies in the hands of CEO Oliver Blume and his colleagues. The union will involve the workforce more closely in the coming weeks and prepare for an escalation.
When asked, Gröger mentioned organizational preparations for possible 24-hour warning strikes or a strike vote. In addition, the union shop stewards should familiarize themselves with the legal framework. He did not want to disclose details of the strategy and schedule.
At the same time, IG Metall is calling for negotiations to begin on November 24th. According to the arbitration and conciliation agreement agreed with Volkswagen, the collective bargaining negotiations must begin on December 3rd at the latest, said Gröger. The union wants to start its proposal nine days before this deadline. Gröger did not announce an agreement with the company regarding the November date.
IG Metall wants to bring negotiations to endangered VW locations
According to the union's wishes, the negotiations should initially take place in Emden, Hanover and Zwickau. There, the future of the plants is at the center of the restructuring dispute. Anyone who gambles with the existence of tens of thousands of employees must also face the reaction of these employees, said Gröger. The discussions belonged at the affected locations and not in the “comfort zone of the 13th boardroom”. The VW management around Blume sits there in the brand house in Wolfsburg. In the end, the union members should decide on a possible outcome.
On Friday, IG Metall will meet with representatives of VW management for the second so-called review meeting. The aim of the meeting is to keep track of which agreements from the December 2024 agreement still exist and which do not. Above all, the perspectives of the German works are central.
Volkswagen overshadowed the first meeting on September 30th with the termination of ten collective agreements. The Handelsblatt first reported on the plan. According to the employee side, the company has since then neither presented a specific list of demands nor adequately answered open questions.
Affected are, among other things, the wage and collective agreement as well as regulations on grouping, allowances and training. Job security until the end of 2030 is not one of the terminated agreements. However, IG Metall accuses the board of gambling away the trust of the workforce with this approach.
Cavallo: Great unrest in VW factories
General works council head Daniela Cavallo reported great unrest in the factories. The employees see the layoffs after their concessions from 2024 as an affront and a declaration of war. The employees have accepted significant cuts, while the company remains unclear about how it wants to fulfill its own commitments to products and investments.
With the collective bargaining compromise of December 2024, Volkswagen and employee representatives agreed on a socially acceptable reduction of more than 35,000 jobs at the German VW locations by 2030, and the reduction of 50,000 jobs was even agreed across the group. In return, operational layoffs were ruled out until the end of 2030.
Among other things, the employees waived the payment of the wage increase agreed for 2025 and 2026. The agreement was intended to reduce costs and at the same time create the basis for investments in the future of the plants.
A new savings package from the board of directors provides for the reduction of more than 50,000 additional jobs. The future occupancy of the German VW plants in Emden, Hanover and Zwickau is also not certain, and the future of the Audi factory in Neckarsulm is equally unclear.
