Late on Thursday afternoon, the negotiators from IG Metall and Volkswagen thought they were close to a deal. By then they had been negotiating in the Wyndham Hannover Atrium Hotel for more than 50 hours; the union is said to have already informed its collective bargaining committee about a package that should form the basis for the agreement, according to informed circles. But then, it is said, new questions suddenly arose. Result: Negotiations continued until midnight, then were interrupted until Friday. Since eleven o’clock the talks have now entered what could be their final round. There is talk among participants of a “convergence” and “cautious optimism”. However, the talks remain complex, and there are apparently still areas in which the negotiators around the VW representative Arne Meiswinkel and the trade unionists Thorsten Gröger and Daniela Cavallo still differ. In the IG Metall environment it was said in the morning that the main issue was on the board to sort things out. On the corporate side, some people point to complexity in the union camp, where, in addition to works council boss Cavallo and the Hanover IG Metall boss Gröger, the works council chairmen of the locations are also involved. The fact is: As announced on Thursday, any agreement, if it is reached, still has to go through the company’s board of directors. At 3 p.m. in the afternoon, the Presidium of the Supervisory Board also wants to get together to get information about those parts of the package that have to pass the Control Board. Those involved estimate that official reports are not expected before the stock market closes. Power struggle between employees and employers Since it became known in September that Germany’s largest car company wanted to make drastic savings, a power struggle has been raging between IG Metall and management. The union has called for warning strikes twice. A negotiation marathon has been running since Monday in the hotel in the north-east of the Lower Saxony state capital. More on the topic It is said in the context of the talks that a solution is emerging that has “substance” and that everyone involved can live with if it is actually decided . The content is not just about the new company tariff, but also about job cuts and the occupancy of the plants. As the F.A.Z. has already reported, the East German location in Zwickau in particular could lose several models and thus be heavily burdened. A recycling plant for batteries should bring new work, but will probably only partially compensate for the losses, according to the status on Thursday afternoon. The locations in Lower Saxony, the workforce in the east suspects, on the other hand, enjoy greater protection from the federal state involved in the group. Emden can expect even more volume for the ID.4 SUV, and Wolfsburg is also likely to take over some of the vehicles from Zwickau. At the same time, the headquarters on the Mittelland Canal are also threatened with major upheavals, as production of the Golf combustion engine model is expected to be relocated to Mexico from 2027. The union had previously stuck to its red lines, according to which no plants were closed, no employees were laid off for operational reasons and no wages were reduced should be permanently reduced. Officially, IG Metall said on Thursday evening: “The negotiation process is particularly problematic in the internal processes of the employer side.” It is regrettable that after four days of negotiations there is still “a deadlock for the employees”. “We still want a solution before Christmas, but only a good one for our colleagues – this is only possible with comprehensive security for jobs, regions and families.”
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