By María Martínez
BERLIN (Reuters) – Volkswagen (ETR:) workers will go on warning strikes on Monday at plants across Germany, the IG Metall union said, marking the first large-scale strikes at Volkswagen's domestic operations since 2018. The start of The strikes represent a further escalation of the dispute between Europe's leading carmaker and its workers over mass layoffs, pay cuts and possible plant closures – drastic measures that the company says it cannot rule out in the face of competition. China and the cooling of consumers. demand.
VW union representatives voted on Nov. 22 in favor of limited strikes at German operations starting in early December after talks over wages and plant closures failed to make progress. “If necessary, this will be the toughest collective bargaining battle Volkswagen has ever seen,” IG Metall negotiator Thorsten Groeger said in a statement. The automaker said it continues to rely on constructive dialogue to find a sustainable solution. “Volkswagen respects the right of employees to participate in a warning strike,” a spokesperson said in response to the union's announcement, adding that the company had taken steps in advance to guarantee a basic level of supply to customers and minimize the impact. of the strike. strike. Warning strikes in Germany usually last a few hours.
The union had last week proposed measures it said would save 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion), including waiving bonuses for 2025 and 2026, which Europe's top carmaker dismissed.
Volkswagen has demanded a 10% pay cut, arguing it needs to cut costs and boost profits to defend its market share in the face of cheap competition from China and a drop in demand for European cars.
The company threatens to close plants in Germany for the first time in its 87-year history.
“Volkswagen has set fire to our collective agreements and instead of extinguishing this fire in three collective bargaining sessions, the board of directors is dumping open barrels of gasoline,” Groeger said.
A no-strike agreement was finalized on Saturday, IG Metall said, allowing workers to stage warning strikes starting Sunday at all of VW AG's German plants.
“Starting Monday, warning strikes will begin at all plants. The duration and intensity of this confrontation is the responsibility of Volkswagen at the negotiating table,” Groeger said.
Labor representatives and management will meet again on December 9 to hold negotiations on a new labor agreement for workers at the German company – VW AG – and unions vow to resist any proposal that does not provide a long-term plan. for each VW plant. .
(1 dollar = 0.9456 euros)
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=();t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)(0);s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,’https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
