Volkswagen employees go on 2-hour 'warning strike' in German

ISTANBUL

Volkswagen employees went on a two-hour "warning strike" at the company's German production plants on Monday.

The two-hour strikes for each shift were scheduled after wage negotiations between the country's largest metalworkers' union, IG Metall, and Volkswagen management failed.

Volkswagen workers went on strike in response to the company's plans to close at least three factories in Germany for the first time in its history.

Protesters are expected to gather at the automaker's headquarters in the northern city of Wolfsburg, as well as at other plants across the country.

Last week, the IG Metall union proposed plans that could save $1.6 billion in labor costs and avert the factory closures by giving up pay increases in the future and substituting that with shorter working hours at some plants while doing so without bonuses. Volkswagen turned it down.

The next round of wage negotiations between the IG Metall union and Volkswagen is scheduled for Dec. 9.

The automaker said on Oct. 28 that its downsizing efforts would affect approximately 300,000 employees, while it also announced that it would end its 30-year-old employment protection plan five years early, and the firm demanded a 10% cut in worker salaries to maintain market share and reduce costs.

Volkswagen had cited high energy and labor costs in Europe, as well as reduced competitiveness and declining sales, as the main drivers for factory closures. The firm had reported a 60% decline in profits in October.

IG Metall claimed that Volkswagen’s “meager offer” ignores the gravity of the effects of the current economic situation on 3.9 million workers who need higher wages, refusing the less-than-satisfactory total wage increase offers of 3.6%.

Volkswagen’s decision sent shockwaves through the German auto industry, especially while the region is facing inflationary pressures and slow economic growth, coupled with the snap elections in the country after Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired the finance minister and ended the coalition government.