Labor dispute at VW escalates amid worsening value disaster – DW – 12/02/2024 | EUROtoday

They had been only a trickle first, however then a whole bunch of staff at VW’s manufacturing facility in Hanover, Germany, got here strolling out of Gate 3 in massive swaths, waving indicators studying “We are ready for strike!” and the crimson flags of Germany’s {powerful} metalworkers’ union, IG Metall.

The Hanover plant is the place VW produces mild industrial automobiles, together with VW’s electrical minibus, ID.Buzz, which is the successor to the corporate’s iconic “Bulli” — brief for bus and supply van in German —  which had been rolling off the meeting line for greater than 65 years, however is now produced in Turkey.

VW staff in Hanover are becoming a member of in a strike that’s hitting virtually all VW crops in Germany.

“For me the most important thing is that they keep this production site,” says Hassan Savas, who’s been working for VW for twenty-four years and is now becoming a member of in a crowd of staff rallying on the native market sq.. “They should abolish bonus payments. Oliver Blume made 10.3 million euros and what do we get?,” he informed DW.

What Hassan Savas is so offended about is a choice by VW’s administration, together with CEO Oliver Blume, to shut a number of VW crops in Germany and lay off 1000’s of staff. The transfer is unprecedented within the carmaker’s greater than 87 years of historical past, and comes after it had scrapped a job safety settlement with labor unions earlier this yr that had dominated out dismissals till 2029.

Moritz, a second-year apprentice on the plant who does not wish to see his full title revealed, says plenty of VW staff are “really angry.”

“Apprentices should get more money and should receive contracts after their training but that‘s both at stake,” he informed DW.

Why are VW staff happening strike?

While staff at VW’s manufacturing facility in Osnabrück, Germany, have secured a seperate bargaining settlement and do not take part within the strike, the remainder of VW’s workforce in Germany continues to be hoping for a brand new deal.

In a latest spherical of wage negotitions, VW staff have supplied  to again €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) in value financial savings if administration guidelines out closing crops in Germany, however warned the automaker would face an historic battle if it pressed forward with swingeing cuts.

VW administration is pushing for wage cuts of as much as 10% to decrease prices within the wake of dwindling revenues. Europe’s greatest carmaker additionally needs to shut three crops to replicate falling demand, particularly for its electrical automobiles (EVs). The firm has been hit onerous by excessive manufacturing prices at residence, a stuttering shift to EVs and hard competitors in key market China.

The IG Metall union introduced on the weekend that industrial motion would get underway Monday with a sequence of “warning strikes”, that are brief walkouts, after the corporate had final week rejected the union’s proposals for shielding jobs.

VW Group, which owns 10 manufacturers from Audi and Porsche to Skoda and Seat, stated in a press release it “respects workers’ rights” and believes in “constructive dialogue” in a bid to achieve “a lasting solution that is collectively supported.” It additionally stated that it had taken “measures to guarantee urgent deliveries” throughout the strike motion.

Collective bargaining negotiations are stated to renew on December ninth, with the employees rallying in Hanover saying the are supporting the labor union’s requires the “most massive strike action VW has ever seen.”

Why is Germany’s automotive {industry} so essential?

The walkouts at VW come as Germany’s omnipotent auto {industry} is dealing with a disaster amid declining European demand and hard competitors from China. With the Wolfsburg-based auto producer being Germany’s greatest industrial employer, a disaster at VW has nationwide repercussions.

In 2023, practically 780,000 individuals had been employed within the German car {industry}, based on the German Association of the Automotive Industry, with greater than 465,000 jobs supplying components and gear to the most important carmakers, together with VW, BMW and Mercedes.

Adding about 22% to Germany’s gross home product (GDP) within the third quarter of 2024, the share of the auto {industry} to whole GDP is larger than in another European nation.

The slowdown in German auto manufacturing, in the meantime, has reached producers past VW. Premium carmaker Mercedes, for instance, is planning to chop prices of a number of billion euros. Tire maker Continental shall be shedding 7,150 staff worldwide, and electronic-parts provider Bosch plans to chop as much as 5,550 jobs.

US auto large Ford  additionally introduced it could scale back its workforce in Germany by 2,900 staff, whereas 14,000 jobs are in danger at provider ZF, and 4,700 at Schaeffler Group, one other essential auto-industry provider.

Edited by: Uwe Hessler