“If necessary, this will be the toughest collective bargaining battle Volkswagen has ever seen,” Bloomberg quotes Thorsten Groeger, chief negotiator of the IG Metall trade union, in VW talks. Groeger added that warning strikes will begin in all plants.
The congregational agreement to the trash bin?
“Volkswagen set our collective agreements on fire” Groeger said, adding that management’s actions are making the situation worse.
Volkswagen on Friday rejected the latest proposals from trade unionists to avoid factory closures as insufficient.
The company is committed to constructive dialogue to reach a mutually supported solution, a Volkswagen spokesman said on Sunday, adding that VW has taken concrete measures in response to the planned strikes.
No agreement
VW executives and labor leaders have different visions on how to deal with falling demand for electric vehicles, higher operating costs and growing competition from Chinese manufacturers.
Management Volkswagen says the company must close three German plants and lay off thousands of workers. Trade unions do not consent to this type of action. Worker representatives pushed to keep the plants in operation.
Strong position of VW trade unions
VW’s corporate structure gives employees a strong voice in key decisionsmaking it very difficult for management to unilaterally push through painful cost cuts. Employee representatives hold half of the seats on the company’s supervisory board. However, in Lower Saxony, where VW’s headquarters is located, trade unionists have an additional two seats on the council.
