120,000 Jobs at Risk

VW’s Cost-Cutting Measures: “Employees Must Make Sacrifices”

The plant in Wolfsburg is reportedly not at risk of closure.(Bild: APA/dpa/Julian Stratenschulte)

The Volkswagen Group has announced that it will be significantly cutting costs—four plants are at risk of closure, and up to 120,000 employees are worried about their jobs. Now an expert is adding fuel to the fire: “Employees must make sacrifices,” he says, calling on them to work longer hours again.

VW employees must do their part to help the giant corporation emerge from the crisis—at least that’s the view of automotive and industry expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer. He is calling for an end to the 35-hour workweek. Employees should return to working 40 hours per week, while still receiving the same pay as before. This would at least partially solve “the problem of high production costs,” says the director of the private Center Automotive Research institute.

For “a few years,” collective bargaining autonomy should be “thrown out”—that is, the principle that employers and unions negotiate working conditions themselves without government intervention. “Employees must make sacrifices,” Dudenhöffer demands in the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung.”

What’s at stake

• According to “Manager Magazin,” up to 100,000 jobs could be cut worldwide at VW—twice as many as previously planned. According to “Bild,” the number could even reach 120,000.
• According to the reports, four VW Group plants in Germany are facing closure: Hanover, Emden, Zwickau, and Neckarsulm.
• However, VW has not yet provided specific details.

Works Council Furious
Yet, as the works council criticized on Saturday, VW employees have still not even been officially informed of the massively expanded job-cut target and the likely plant closures. CEO Blume reportedly informed management of this on Friday. The “tens of thousands of affected employees outside of management” are still being withheld this information, the employee representatives railed. 

The works council gave Blume an ultimatum to take a stance by Friday—which the VW boss apparently let slip by. “It is irresponsible to leave the workforce in the dark and send them on vacation like this,” criticizes works council chair Daniela Cavallo, as reported by “Der Spiegel.”

VW CEO Oliver Blume is said to have informed management of the plans on Friday.(Bild: AFP/RONNY HARTMANN)

The works council announced that Blume will have to answer questions at the town hall meetings following the summer break. The workforce wants to focus above all on whether the executive board “wants to overcome the crisis together with the employees or against them.”

Radical Steps Necessary
Whether in the employees’ best interest or not, VW must now take radical steps if the auto giant does not want to put itself out of business, says expert Stefan Bratzel in an interview with NDR. He doubts, however, that the company really needs to close four plants in Germany. “I think that two locations would be quite sufficient,” said the director of the Center of Automotive Management.

“It’s certainly not about 120,000 jobs”
Automotive analyst Frank Schwope also doesnotbelieve that all four plants will close. According to him, the sites in Zwickau and Emden could remain open, as reported by NDR. Schwope is also reassuring regarding job cuts: “It’s certainly not about 120,000 jobs,” but he says several tens of thousands of jobs will still be cut. He expects, however, that the jobs won’t be lost for several years.

VW has not yet commented on individual votes in the supervisory board. It is still unclear exactly what lies ahead for VW employees, but one thing is certain: the rift between employees and management is currently widening.