Volkswagen boss Oliver Blume needs to push forward with austerity measures and reduce 35,000 jobs | EUROtoday

Volkswagen boss Oliver Blume needs to additional push the automotive producer’s austerity measures. If the group needs to proceed to earn cash with its autos and be aggressive sooner or later, prices should proceed to be persistently optimized, Blume mentioned at a works assembly in Wolfsburg, in accordance with data from the corporate. VW has in style merchandise and prime applied sciences – now it is about rising productiveness and simplifying processes.

Blume emphasised how essential it’s to obviously align the group with the necessities of the long run and the truth of the market. According to him, because of this the corporate has repositioned itself so comprehensively along with its collective bargaining companions.

According to Blume, the agreements are being carried out collectively and are making good progress. Only an economically robust firm is a protected employer, the CEO mentioned to the workforce.

Read: “Electromobility remains our guiding principle”

Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Olaf Lies (SPD) additionally spoke on the works assembly. The state of Lower Saxony is VW’s second largest shareholder with 20 %, and Lies sits on the supervisory board.

He declared the preservation of business jobs to be his prime precedence. “We must subordinate every decision to securing jobs and our industrial substance,” he mentioned. It’s now about reliability and planning safety as a substitute of headlines and political trophies.

Initial successes are seen within the marketing campaign for dependable, reasonable guard rails from Berlin and Brussels. “Electromobility remains our guiding principle. We will pragmatically use additional technology options on the way to 2035 and beyond,” mentioned Lies, referring to the present debate in regards to the so-called phase-out of combustion engines from 2035.

At the top of December 2024, after a protracted wrestle and several other warning strikes, Volkswagen and the IG Metall union agreed on a restructuring program that envisages the discount of 35,000 jobs in Germany by 2030. In return, VW reinstated the beforehand terminated employment safety and prolonged it till 2030.