Volkswagen workers plan to launch four-hour rolling strikes on Monday, ratcheting up pressure on management on the same day a fourth round of negotiations over pay cuts and factory closures gets underway.
In opposition to the ailing car giant’s cost-cutting plans, workers staged two-hour strikes at nine Volkswagen car and parts factories in Germany earlier this week.
A protest meeting is also planned in Wolfsburg, the world headquarters of the Volkswagen Group and the location of Monday’s negotiations, Thorsten Gröger of the industrial union IG Metall said on Thursday.
“Around 100,000 strikers sent a loud signal to VW management at the beginning of December,” he said of the first day of strike on December 2. “We will now follow up on December 9 and increase the pressure on the company at the negotiating table. “
The same nine factories in Germany – in Wolfsburg, Zwickau, Hannover, Emden, Kassel-Baunatal, Braunschweig, Salzgitter, Chemnitz and Dresden – are affected again.
The rolling wave of four-hour strikes will begin at the Wolfsburg factory at 10:30 am (09:30 GMT), the union said. Two hours later, the fourth round of negotiations begins in the city’s Volkswagen Arena.
Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume on Wednesday defended the proposed cost-cutting program, which includes cutting wages, closing factories and imposing layoffs. He called the situation “serious” and said “urgent measures are needed.”
