BERLIN (AFP) – Volkswagen (VW) said yesterday that talks with unions over a new pay deal for workers would begin a month early, following the German auto giant’s threat to close factories and cut jobs at home.
Discussions are likely to be fraught with employee representatives promising “bitter resistance” to the cost-saving measures.
The IG Metall union and VW management had agreed to a first round of negotiations on September 25, the group said.
The talks, initially slated to start at the end of October, will set the terms of employment for some 120,000 workers in Germany.
The “challenging situation” at the carmaker and the “resulting uncertainties” were behind the decision to bring forward the talks, the group said.
VW surprised workers last week with the announcement that it could shutter sites in Germany for the first time in its 87-year history.
High manufacturing costs, a stuttering switch to electric vehicles, and rising competition in and from the key Chinese market explained the need for drastic measures.
In a first step at the start of this week, VW axed a series of collective bargaining agreements with workers, including a deal that promised to protect jobs in Germany until 2029.
The moves were an “unprecedented attack” on the core of the group, the works council for employees at the carmaker’s operations in Germany said yesterday.
The renegotiation of the agreements terminated by VW made negotiations “so complex that lengthy talks are expected”, the works council said in a message to employees. Parallel discussions within VW over the carmaker’s investment plans “add to complexity”, the works council said.
Thousands of employees protested the planned cuts at the group’s historic Wolfsburg headquarters last week as executives sought to justify the plans.
