Amid Low Sales, Volkswagen Plans To Close ‘At Least’ 3 German Plants, Lay Off Thousands Of Staff

Amid low sales, German automaker, Volkswagen, plans to close ‘at least’ 3 German plants and lay off tens of thousands of staff.

Move follows a major escalation of a conflict between Volkswagen workers and the management over its plans to cut cost.

Cost cutting measure amid weakening demand in Europe and China and a slower-than-expected electric transition.

Planned domestic factory closures by Volkswagen would be the first in the German brand’s 87-year history.

German automaker, Volkswagen, plans to close “at least” three factories in home country of Germany, lay off tens of thousands of staff and downsize remaining plants in the country, the company’s employee group said Monday.

The move follows a major escalation of a conflict between Volkswagen workers and the management over its plans to cut cost, amid weakening demand in Europe and China and a slower-than-expected electric transition.

“Management is absolutely serious about all this. This is not sabre-rattling in the collective bargaining round,” Daniela Cavallo, Volkswagen’s works council head, told employees at the carmaker’s biggest plant, in Wolfsburg.

The planned domestic factory closures, where Europe’s biggest carmaker employs more than 295,000 people, would be the first in Volkswagen’s 87-year history.

“This is the plan of Germany’s largest industrial group to start the sell-off in its home country of Germany,” Cavallo added, without specifying which plants would be affected or how many of Volkswagen Group’s roughly 300,000 staff in Germany could be laid off.

“All German VW plants are affected by these plans. None of them are safe,” noted, adding that VW management is also demanding a 10% pay cut and no other pay raises for the next two years.

“If VW confirms its dystopian path on Wednesday, the board must expect the corresponding consequences on our part,” Thorsten Groeger, lead negotiator for one of Germany’s most powerful unions, IG Metall said in a statement Monday.

• See Also : To Reduce Cost, LAMATA Urges Swedish Bus Maker, Scania, To Set Up Manufacturing Plant In Lagos