There are tens of thousands of employees across Germany Volkswagen went on warning strike in nine plants. The strike began in the morning at the Zwickau plant and spread to the other plants over the course of the day, including the main plant in Wolfsburg. With the nationwide warning strike they want to IG Metall temporarily brought production to a standstill in the VW plants.
“At the negotiating table, Volkswagen was not prepared to find a viable solution to the collective bargaining dispute,” said Dirk Schulze, the IG Metall district manager responsible for Berlin, Brandenburg and Saxony. “Therefore, warning strikes must increase the pressure on management.” The mood is heated: “We are fed up,” sang employees in the Zwickau radio station and vented their displeasure with whistles and rattles. The union and works council spoke of up to 5,000 participants. The location currently has around 9,200 employees. Hundreds of employees also marched to the factory gates at the engine factory in Chemnitz and the Transparent Factory in Dresden.
According to IG Metall, 4,000 employees took part in the warning strikes at the Emden plant. Daniel Friedrich, district manager of IG Metall Coast, criticized in a speech that the VW board was still sticking to the plant closure plan despite ongoing collective bargaining. “What kind of shop is that up there, take off your hat or organize the future together with us,” he shouted. In Braunschweig, more than a thousand employees walked through the city. In Hanover, according to the union, 5,000 employees demanded: “Executive board out!” In Kassel-Baunatal, employees of the components plant also vented their displeasure with whistles, drums and horn concerts.
Each shift goes on strike for two hours
The warning strike should last around two hours and then be repeated in every shift. In Wolfsburg, a rally was planned this morning directly at the executive board building. Works council head Daniela Cavallo (49) and Lower Saxony’s IG Metall district manager Thorsten Gröger were scheduled to speak there.
The conflict is about the pay of around 120,000 employees in the Volkswagen AG plants, where a separate in-house tariff applies. With the strike, IG Metall is defending itself against billions in cuts at Europe’s largest car manufacturer. VW is demanding a 10 percent pay cut from employees. Plant closures and redundancies are also on the table.
In contrast, the general works council and IG Metall are demanding significant salary increases, which, however, should not be paid out. A fund to finance reductions in working hours could be financed. The employee representatives also want guarantees for employment and locations. According to the works council, at least three plants and tens of thousands of jobs are at risk. Both sides will meet on December 9th for the next round of collective bargaining.
“How long and how intense this dispute has to go on has to be determined Volkswagen at the negotiating table,” explained Gröger, but already announced: “If necessary, this will be the toughest collective bargaining battle that Volkswagen has ever seen.”
Consequences for production from strikes unclear
Volkswagen initially did not provide any information about possible production failures. The aim is to keep the impact as low as possible, said a spokesman. That’s why the company took targeted measures to ensure emergency supplies.
The so-called peace obligation at the ailing car manufacturer Volkswagen expired on Sunday night. The collective bargaining committee of IG Metall had already voted unanimously to support its demands with strikes in the current collective bargaining round. The third round of collective bargaining ended last Thursday without any results.
There were last warning strikes at individual locations at VW in the 2021 company collective bargaining round. The last time there were comprehensive campaigns at all six major plants in West Germany was in 2018. According to IG Metall, more than 50,000 employees took part at the time.