Given the high demand for electric cars, there is a risk of this Volkswagen a reduction in jobs at the Zwickau plant. According to dpa information, there is talk of not extending employees’ fixed-term contracts. Initially, this could affect a few hundred of the approximately 10,700 employees at the Saxon location at the end of October. More than 2,000 people currently work there on fixed-term contracts. Depending on the further market situation, they could now face the end of their jobs at VW for the foreseeable future. A staff meeting is planned for Thursday.
“It’s a serious situation,” said Saxony’s Economics Minister Martin Dulig (SPD) on Wednesday when asked by the German Press Agency. He has been in contact with the works council and his Lower Saxony counterpart Olaf Lies (SPD) for several weeks. “We want to show employees a positive perspective, but we can’t always discuss possible solutions publicly right away.” At the same time, Dulig warned against artificially conjuring up “possible future scenarios”.
Uncertainty has been growing in the electric car factory for weeks due to sluggish demand. Many employees express concern. Now representatives of the IG Metall addressed to the management with a letter. “Enough is enough! We finally want answers,” the “Freie Presse” quoted from the letter on Wednesday. The alarm bells are obviously ringing in the state government too. “In the next few days, maybe hours, we will hear unfortunate news,” said Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU), according to the “Leipziger Volkszeitung” at a CDU regional conference on Tuesday evening.
VW has converted its factory in Zwickau into a factory for electric vehicles in recent years at a cost of 1.2 billion euros. This year production was actually supposed to increase. Instead, there could now be a reduction in shifts, because in view of high inflation and declining subsidies, car buyers are now reluctant to buy electric cars.