VW workers in Germany blast management ahead of crunch talks
· Citizen
Volkswagen workers voiced fury at their bosses in an internal survey seen by AFP Monday, upping the pressure ahead of crunch talks on the future of the embattled German carmaker.
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Employees slammed the board’s “disastrous communication”, ranking it as their number one grievance, even ahead of anxiety over their jobs or possible factory closures.
The survey results posted on Volkswagen’s intranet come in a week CEO Oliver Blume and other executives begin a tour of Volkswagen sites for meetings with workers.
50 000 job cuts
As the VW Group struggles with fierce Chinese competition, patchy demand and US tariffs, Blume has sought to bring workers onboard for potentially painful cost cuts.
“The situation is more than critical,” he warned in an intranet post seen by AFP Sunday, adding that the firm was not making enough money to “ensure we have the means over the long term for new technologies, new products and our locations”.
Volkswagen has already agreed about 50 000 job cuts across brands including its namesake as well as others like Audi and Porsche, but Europe’s largest carmaker has since said cutting another 50 000 positions could be required.
It has also slated several German plants for potential closure, in Zwickau, Emden, Hannover, Osnabrueck and Neckarsulm.
Volkswagen’s supervisory board — made up of big shareholders as well as labour representatives under Germany’s system of co-determination — are discussing turnaround plans.
‘Biggest upheaval in their history’
Blume said Sunday that Volkswagen and the rest of Germany’s car industry are facing “the biggest upheaval in their history” from global headwinds and Chinese competition.
Other automakers have also complained of challenges in Germany where pay and energy costs are high.
Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kaellenius said last month there was a cost gap of about 70 percent between the firm’s Hungarian and German operations.
Manager Magazin, first reported on Volkswagen’s potential additional cuts, sparking a furious rebuke of VW from unions who accused management of not being straight with workers.
In July, Blume confirmed that an additional 50 000 cuts were on the cards and insisted that the plans had been leaked to media without his approval.