Employees are angry at VW's plans to cut their wages and close some plants to save money.
Germany's productivity took a nose dive yesterday as almost 100,000 Volkswagen workers across the country walked off the job in protest at the automaker's cost cutting proposals. That's like an entire sports stadium of people not building cars.
The IG Metall union, the biggest labor force in Germany, says 98,650 VW employees came out to protest, and as you'd expect given the number of workers involved, the strike action wasn't limited to just a single site. A total of nine plants suffered disruption.
Related: VW Workers Strike At 9 Plants Over Proposed 10% Pay Cuts And Closures
Unlike last year's UAW strikes in the US, this protest did at least enable VW to build some cars. The action involved workers on morning shifts striking for two hours and those on evening shifts walking out early, Reuters reports. But time is money, a lot of money in huge businesses like VW, and the lost production won't have been received well by the suits at Wolfsburg.
The disgruntled VW workers are angry at the automaker's proposed plans to save money, which involve asking employees to accept pay cuts, laying off staff and closing plants for the first time in the company's 87-year history. VW has suggested that two sites may need to be axed to help it deal with its perilous financial situation.
Last month, the IG Metall union offered VW a way to save €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) by forgoing bonuses for 2025 and 2026 and diverting age increases into a fund to allow for reduced working hours during periods of overcapacity. But VW dismissed the proposal, claiming it would only offer short-term relief, leaving the union with no option but to call for strike action. The next round of negotiations takes place on December 9.
VW is struggling with a big drop in demand in China, a country it relies heavily on for revenue. And it's also dealing with slower than expected demand for its EVs in Europe and the US. The European car market has contracted since the COVID pandemic, meaning VW is selling around 50,000 fewer cars each year than it did before the outbreak, and it doesn't expect the market to recover any time soon, so cost cutting measures are essential to ensure survival.
Back in September, VW's finance chief Arno Antlitz warned that the group only has "one, maybe two" years to turn the main Volkswagen brand around.