In the tariff conflict Volkswagen the fourth round of negotiations ended without a result. Volkswagen negotiator Arne Meiswinkel (56) said on Monday evening after around seven hours of talks that both sides were still far from a viable solution. At the same time, he spoke of constructive discussions on all demands in the current collective bargaining round.
The company needs sustainable and short-term cost reductions in order to finance future investments. “We haven’t gotten there yet,” he emphasized. Accordingly, Volkswagen cannot rule out plant closures.
Continues December 16th
IG Metall chief negotiator Thorsten Gröger also spoke of a constructive climate in the negotiations. For the first time, the employee’s proposal was not rejected, but the company looked at it seriously. The employees had made it clear that a basic prerequisite for a solution was to avoid site closures. The talks between the two sides are scheduled to continue on December 16th and 17th.
Before the start of the negotiation round Tens of thousands of VW employees took part in a four-hour warning strike involved. More than 10,000 people came to a rally at the main plant in Wolfsburg alone. Gröger called on the board to be more accommodating: Otherwise, “in 2025 there will only be one answer to the austerity hammer: the strike hammer,” he said.
The IG Metall spoke of around 68,000 VW employees who took part in the strike until the afternoon, most of them in Wolfsburg. According to company information, the number of strikers was 35,000. Further warning strikes were planned for the late and night shifts. Works council leader Daniela Cavallo (49) confirmed to the strikers that with her there would be no mass layoffs or factory closures. “And no hard cuts in our in-house tariff that would permanently lower its level.” Now it is up to the VW board to move away from its maximum demands.
In the conflict, the company is demanding, among other things, a wage cut of 10 percent and is threatening to close plants. The employees want to respond to the overcapacity with a fund that can finance a reduction in working hours at the particularly affected locations. However, they are not offering a wage waiver, but rather the use of the upcoming tariff increase.