After the savings plans become known Volkswagen IG Metall boss Christiane Benner (56) asked the group management to correct course. “It is the task of company management and management to correct the errors,” said Benner on Tuesday in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”. For example, e-mobility needs to be expanded. This requires affordable electric models.
The remaining employees would have to expect significant salary losses. The IG Metall already criticized this sharply on Monday. Politicians also have to change the framework conditions, demanded Benner. She cited better charging infrastructure and cheap charging current as examples. “We need a very clear signal that politicians have understood and are now taking measures so that we can keep the industry in Germany,” she demanded on ZDF.
“The employees at VW do not want to pay the bill for the difficult conditions that exist at the moment,” said the trade unionist. There is great anger among the workforce. “IG Metall will fight for all plants and all jobs at VW,” announced Benner.
Marcel Fratzscher: Politics has to stay out of it
DIW President Marcel Fratzscher (53) is now warning against political intervention in the Volkswagen Group, which is threatened by plant closures and layoffs. “Politicians must strictly stay out of business decisions,” the head of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday.
“Decisions at Volkswagen must be made exclusively on the basis of what makes the group competitive and more innovative again.” The unions, in turn, should behave responsibly. “You cannot, on the one hand, demand a 7 percent increase in salary and, on the other hand, categorically reject cost savings at Volkswagen,” warned Fratzscher. “As a result, they run the risk of causing significant harm to their own members.”
Most of the responsibility for the crisis lies with the management of Volkswagen itself, said Fratzscher. It must present plans for the future with transparency and openness and coordinate quickly with the social partners. The planned conversion is likely to have only a minor impact on the German economy in the medium term and in the immediate term. Compared to the 46 million employees, the number of layoffs is rather small. “VW employees are excellently trained, and Germany today has a huge shortage of skilled workers,” said the economist. Losing a job and finding a job are always difficult for every employee. However, VW employees have “the best chance of finding new work quickly and easily,” emphasized Fratzscher.
According to Fratzscher, the announcement of factory closures and layoffs hits a nerve in Germany. “Hardly any company is such a strong symbol of the economic miracle, the great prosperity and the global reputation of products ‘Made in Germany’ as Volkswagen,” said the DIW President. The strength of companies like Volkswagen, which must be maintained, is their high level of innovation, from which the entire economy has benefited across sectors.”