DPA
VW employees in Wolfsburg production (archive): The bonus for the past financial year has increased by 4 percent, after 16 percent in the previous year
The roughly 100,000 employees in collective bargaining will receive from Volkswagen for the past financial year Show stock market chart again a higher bonus. The premium is expected to increase from 4750 to 4950 euros. This is an increase of about 4 percent, after 16 percent more had been paid for 2018 than in the previous year. The works council informed the VW AG workforce on Wednesday in the in-house magazine “Mitbestimmen” about the result of its negotiations with the management.
Works council chief Bernd Osterloh said that the employees had earned the profit sharing due to their “highly flexible” commitment. For example, the start of production on the new Golf 8 meant “effort”, and “fluctuating driving styles and turbulence in production” were also not easy.
In the end, however, the workforce succeeded in “successfully implementing the agreed productivity increases”. Head of Human Resources and Labor Director Gunnar Kilian said that the “success year 2019” is well reflected in the bonus. At the same time, however, he dampened further expectations – also in view of the upheaval in the automotive industry: “The trees do not grow up into the sky.” And: “Not only, but also because of Corona, the economy and thus Volkswagen are facing a very challenging year.” CEO Herbert Diess spoke of a “strong team performance”.
VW boss Diess speaks of “strong team performance”
The profit sharing scheme goes to the employees of the Wolfsburg, Hanover, Emden, Salzgitter, Braunschweig and Kassel plants, as well as the financial subsidiary. At its core, it is based on the operating profit of the core VW passenger car brand, but additional sub-criteria are applied when calculating on a two-year basis. On Tuesday and Wednesday (March 17th / 18th) the group and the brand will present further details.
The group management had already emphasized at the end of February when presenting the key data for 2019 and the outlook for the coming months that the climate was getting rough. Despite the overall good situation at VW, Osterloh criticized the management board communication on some questions. “The start of the Golf is anything but smooth,” he told the magazine. “The situation with ID.3 is not much better.”
With regard to the Golf 8, there had been reports of problems with the electronics. The software configuration of the ID.3 – the first representative of the electric vehicle family, into which billions of dollars are invested – is delayed. “The utilization of the German plants in particular has to improve,” added the works council chief. “What I lack is concrete answers from the Executive Board to urgent questions.”
dpa