Workers from German carmaker Volkswagen were gathering at the company’s headquarters in Wolfsburg on Wednesday to weigh a difficult cost-cutting plan negotiated in December by Volkswagen management and labour leaders.
The gathering is the first general works meeting at Volkswagen since the deal was struck after months of bitter talks and repeated brief strikes at Volkswagen’s plants in Germany.
Under the deal, Volkswagen plans to cut the company’s German workforce by 35,000 jobs by 2030. But the company agreed not to use layoffs or shutter plants, which the IG Metall trade union had called “red lines” in the talks.
Instead, Volkswagen will use voluntary measures such as retirements or buyouts to cut jobs. The company agreed to reinstate a job security deal with workers that rules out layoffs until 2030.
Speakers at Wednesday’s meeting are expected to include the top executive over the Volkswagen brand, Thomas Schäfer, and Volkswagen Works Council chairwoman Daniela Cavallo.
The works council is expecting a large turnout from Volkswagen’s flagship plant in Wolfsburg, which alone employs around 60,000 workers. The meeting is due to be broadcast on video screens outside the factory hall in case there is not enough room inside for all the workers who join.
Volkswagen is a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Europe’s largest carmaker, which also includes a number of other brands such as Audi, Škoda, Porsche and SEAT.
There had been fierce protests against Volkswagen’s cost-cutting plans at the two previous staff meetings, and now both labour and company leaders will need to defend the deal to rank-and-file workers.
“In addition to many points gained for the employee side, the wage compromise also includes painful cuts,” Cavallo admitted before the meeting. “Being satisfied with the result does not mean that we should be jubilant.”
However, not all workers at Volkswagen are satisfied with the deal, with some employees at more profitable plants unhappy over compensation cuts made to protect jobs elsewhere in the country.
In order to reduce personnel costs, vacation pay, various bonuses and allowances will be reduced or cut completely under the plans.
Wage increases are on hold for the time being, and the pay scale structure of the company is to be adjusted from 2027 to bring pay at Volkswagen into line with a lower industry-wide pay scale for auto workers in Germay.
Cavallo countered fears that the new wage structure would mean the end of the previous in-house deal for Volkswagen workers, which generally meant better pay and benefits than at other German automotive companies.
“The opposite is the case,” she said. “We have secured our in-house agreement for the long term.”
Volkswagen Group chief executive Oliver Blume is not expected to address the VW workforce himself at the meeting, although he is due to attend.
Blume was booed down by workers when he addressed the last works meeting in December, which took place in the midst of the contentious collective bargaining talks.
