Disaster at Volkswagen in Germany: Job guarantee canceled - plant closures possible
Due to cost-cutting measures, the car manufacturer Volkswagen (VW) is planning to terminate the job guarantee for around 110,000 employees. This means that they will no longer have a guarantee that they will not be laid off for operational reasons - for the first time since 1994. The company is also considering plant closures, reported Bild.
The company is missing a total of five billion euros. At a crisis summit called at short notice, the board informed managers of plans for a "restructuring". CEO Oliver Blume said that the economic environment had "worsened again". This was also due to new suppliers entering the European market. VW therefore had to "react consistently".
Without “quick countermeasures,” “factory closures of vehicle production and component sites” cannot be ruled out, the group said on Monday.
IG Metall boss: Plans are “highly dangerous”
Several of the plants are located in Lower Saxony. The state is also represented as a shareholder with more than 20 percent and has two members on the VW supervisory board. The Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil (SPD), is also a member of the supervisory board.
Weil expects that "the question of closing locations simply does not arise due to the successful use of alternatives," says Weil. The state government should "pay particular attention to the prospects of the Lower Saxony locations and the jobs available there."
The regional head of the IG Metall union, Thorsten Gröger, called the board's plan "irresponsible". It is "shaking the foundations of VW" and "massively threatening jobs and locations". The course is not just "short-sighted" but "highly dangerous". The plan will meet with "determined resistance". The task of CEO Blume should be to "communicate a clear vision of the future" instead of "engraving gravestones for locations in the background".
Works council wants to take to the barricades
VW's works council chairwoman, Daniela Cavallo, also rejected the savings plans. "The employees' side will show massive resistance," she was quoted as saying by Der Spiegel . With her, "there will be no site closures." With its plans, the company's board of directors has abandoned the agreement that "profitability and job security are equally important goals."
The company has been struggling with high costs for several years. The number of cars imported from China in Germany is increasing, while at the same time the VW Group's revenues have continued to fall in recent years - in the first half of 2024 by 3.8 percent compared to the same period last year.
Source: Junge Freiheit
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