IG Metall, Germany’s biggest union, delivered a stark warning on Monday, saying it will mount maximum resistance to any attempt by Volkswagen to roll back a previously negotiated restructuring package. The statement fell short of an explicit strike threat but underscored the depth of anger among workers as the automaker prepares for a high-stakes supervisory board meeting at the end of the week.
Company management and union representatives have been locked in intensifying exchanges since July over what could become Volkswagen’s most extensive reorganization to date. The set of plans under consideration would, according to current proposals, include plant closures, the separation of certain divisions and additional job cuts amounting to some 50,000 roles.
Those measures, if enacted, would arrive less than two years after the most recent restructuring accord was negotiated. That earlier package itself followed months of fraught discussions and warning strikes as Volkswagen sought to respond to pressures from tariffs, competition from Asian automakers and a softening market in China.
Addressing employees at a staff meeting in Hanover - one of the sites that faces possible closure - Thorsten Groeger told workers: "I can only warn you: If the board tries to call this agreement into question again, then the factory floors will be up in arms at all our sites." He added: "We will oppose it with all our might."
Volkswagen’s supervisory board is scheduled to convene on Friday to decide among three competing restructuring proposals. The vote increases the likelihood of a full escalation of the dispute that could ultimately require an extraordinary shareholder meeting.
At the same staff gathering, Volkswagen’s finance chief, Arno Antlitz, said the company would do everything possible to protect jobs, while also stressing the absence of a viable follow-up production plan for the factories in Hanover, Emden, Neckarsulm and Zwickau. Antlitz warned that if surplus capacity were not trimmed and production continued unchanged at those sites, the group would face a lasting cost disadvantage of roughly 1.5 billion per year ($1.74 billion). ($1 = 0.8622 euros)
Context and next steps
The immediate focus is on the supervisory board meeting on Friday, where directors will select one of three rival proposals. Depending on the boards decision, the conflict between management and unions could escalate further, potentially prompting additional corporate governance actions.