BERLIN (AP) — Volkswagen has informed employee representatives that it plans to close at least three factories in Germany, the head of the company’s works council said Monday.
The head of the employees’ council, Daniela Cavallo, said at a meeting with Volkswagen employees at its Wolfsburg headquarters that management is also planning cuts at other locations, and vowed to oppose the plans, German news agency dpa reported. She said that “all German VW factories are affected by these plans. No one is safe.”
There was no immediate comment from the company itself.
Volkswagen said in early September that headwinds in the auto industry mean it cannot rule out factory closures in its home country and must drop a job protection pledge in place since 1994 that would have ruled out layoffs until 2029. CEO Oliver Blume mentioned new competitors entering the European market. markets, Germany’s deteriorating position as a production location and the need to ‘act decisively’.
European car manufacturers are facing increasing competition from cheap Chinese electric cars. Volkswagen said last month that the company’s half-year results showed it would miss its target of 10 billion euros in cost savings by 2026.
Volkswagen has about 120,000 employees in Germany, where it has ten factories, six of which are in the northern state of Lower Saxony, including Wolfsburg.
The industrial union IG Metall has sharply criticized VW’s reported closure plans. “We expect Volkswagen and its management to outline sustainable concepts for the future at the negotiating table instead of austerity fantasies,” said regional union leader Thorsten Gröger.
Wage negotiations between Volkswagen and the union will resume on Wednesday.
