Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
Employees of the Volkswagen Group are gearing up for warning strikes as the peace obligation tied to wage negotiations ends at midnight on Saturday, according to a statement published Friday by Germany’s largest union, IG Metall.
The union, which represents tens of thousands of Volkswagen workers, has declared its members “strike-ready” at six western German sites and three facilities operated by Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH. Preparations for industrial action have been underway for weeks, IG Metall said.
Last week, workers’ representatives at the German car giant Volkswagen Group had urged for an agreement before Christmas, as Europe’s largest carmaker warns of the potential closure of “at least three” plants causing significant layoffs.
Volkswagen’s planned cost-cutting program was “unavoidable” to address longstanding “structural problems”, CEO Oliver Blume said in a recent interview citing, “weak market demand in Europe and significantly lower earnings from China.”
The negotiations cover approximately 120,000 employees in Germany, representing nearly half of the company’s national workforce of about 300,000.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
