Thousands of Volkswagen staff walk out as strikes continue

CGTN Europe

Thousands of Volkswagen employees have downed their tools in the second strike in a week against wage cuts and factory closures.  Volkswagen have enter their fourth round of talks with union leaders in a bid to end the standoff

Transcript

00:00Well, they've been locked in these talks in Wolfsburg, which is the HQ of Volkswagen for just around six hours now,

00:07with no word coming out. What we do know, though, is what both sides had laid out before they went in.

00:13From the Union side, IG Metall and the Volkswagen Works Council,

00:19they have said they will not tolerate the closure of VW plants here in Germany,

00:24or the fact that VW workers will have to take a wage cut.

00:28Now, that may not go down too well as a start position for negotiations,

00:33but what we do know is that both the Works Council and the Union have gone into these talks with Volkswagen,

00:38putting forward a programme of restructuring themselves that they say could save VW around $1.5 billion.

00:47Now, it's around 10% of the actual total we understand VW need to save, but it is certainly a step in the direction.

00:55But what we've heard from the Works Council and from the Union is that they will not tolerate either the 10% wage cut

01:02that had been touted around by VW, or the closure of three of the 10 VW plants in Germany.

01:09That's what we know so far as those talks continue.

01:13And Peter, what has Volkswagen said about all of this?

01:19Well, there's been pleas for VW staff and the unions representing them to be realistic,

01:24from Oliver Bloom, the CEO of the VW Group.

01:28The company is in big trouble. In fact, if you cast your minds back to the summer,

01:32we were right here talking about VW essentially having two years to save the company.

01:39That was as they put out the first of two profit warnings in 2024.

01:45The company has suffered massively following the Dieselgate scandal,

01:49where it was forced to pay out over $30 billion in fines for trying to cheat the system there.

01:55It's also been one of the manufacturing companies in Germany that's really suffered due to the rise in power costs here.

02:03All of that, of course, going into the electricity, the power, crucial when it comes to heavy manufacturing,

02:08which, of course, auto manufacturing is.

02:12We're really looking at situations whereby VW are saying they need to close three of the ten plants that exist in Germany

02:20that they need to then have the remaining staff that don't lose their jobs to take a 10% pay cut.

02:27Now, VW employs over 300,000 people here in Germany.

02:31The auto industry in general, well, indirectly is worth 5% of Germany's GDP.

02:38It employs, I beg your pardon, almost 10% of Germany's GDP.

02:41It employs 5% of Germany's workforce.

02:44We've heard from Olaf Schultz, the chancellor, saying he wants to try and find a solution

02:49or wants a solution to be found that doesn't involve people being laid off.

02:53We did hear before they went into these talks that getting a solution before Christmas was possible.

02:58However, we also heard from the union side that if a solution isn't found,

03:03well, they're promising the fireworks at New Year's won't be the only fireworks facing VW,

03:08and they're promising unprecedented strikes should a solution not be found.

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