Volkswagen’s works council criticized the company’s leadership for suggesting possible plant closures and threatening job security, while the chief financial officer says it is essential to cut costs.
Representatives of Volkswagen (VW) workers have given a damning speech at the Wolfsburg plant on Wednesday. The president of the Committee, Daniela Cavallo, blamed the executives for “not doing your job“, after the company said it may have to close plants in Germany, a country with the strongest economy in all of Europe.
“We don’t have a labor cost problem. We don’t have a personnel problem. We have an executive committee that does not focus enough on the core business. The workforce cannot be expected to bear the consequences of their mistakes,” Cavallo told the executive committee in a room packed with thousands of workers.
From Volkswagen they assure that the company cannot survive the transition to electric cars unless it cuts its costs, after the deterioration of the economy and tough competition from China.
“Is your response to close factories? Lay people off? Ask for pay cuts? Such measures would only be acceptable in one scenario, and that is if the entire business model was dead“added Cavallo.
VW employs almost 700,000 workerswhich enjoy safe working conditions negotiated in the 1990s. Chief Financial Officer Arno Antlitz pleaded with workers to accept the cuts.
Another blow for the German Government
VW, Europe’s largest car manufacturerwhich is also the parent company of Audi and Skoda, among others, is trying save 10 billion euros after measures including a hiring freeze and layoff of temporary workers that were agreed last year have turned out to be not enough.
These possible plant closures mean another blow for the current coalition governmentsince the German economy depends heavily on the automobile industry. At the weekend, two eastern German states They voted overwhelmingly in favor of the extreme right party Alternative for Germany, so experts now suggest that ministries should take action on the matter.
However, this could now be an opportunity for the German chancellor, Olaf Scholzwhose popularity has plummeted in the last two years over disputes with your coalition partners, demonstrate leadership and put in place policies that encourage a smooth transition to electric vehicles.
