At a meeting on Monday, 2 September, the Volkswagen board of directors announced that the programme launched in 2023 to improve results was still insufficient. According to management, massive savings are necessary to prevent the core brand from falling into the red zone. As a result, plants, the VW company tariff and the job security that will apply until the end of 2029 are now being called into question.
Judith Kirton-Darling, industriAll Europe General Secretary sharply criticised the announcement, which comes as a shock to industriAll Europe:
“The board of management has presented a plan that shakes the foundations of Volkswagen, and massively threatens jobs and sites. This is not only short-sighted but highly dangerous, as it is at odds with the culture of mutual trust which has underpinned the company’s history for so many years. We will support the fight of our members with all our might for the preservation of all sites and jobs. Profits cannot be secured at the expense of the workforce and our communities.”
“The management board must propose a sustainable strategy for Volkswagen’s long term future and secures jobs, instead of imposing austerity, plant closures and job losses. Brutal austerity and obsession with short-term profits is the exact opposite of what is needed to steer structural change in an inclusive and acceptable way. The company must develop a clear vision for the future, based on a strong investment plan and measures to support and prepare workers”, stressed Judith Kirton-Darling.
Trust and social dialogue are the cornerstones of a Just Transition.
“The transformation of the automotive industry can only succeed with workers, never against them! The breach of existing agreements designed to guarantee job security undermines the worker trust and commitment that the company needs to secure long-term profitability, but it also creates the perfect environment that the far right needs to prosper”.
IndustriAll Europe is supporting IG Metall’s call for Volkswagen not to delay the upcoming collective bargaining negotiations and to come to the negotiating table as early as September, instead of October.
Beyond the case of Volkswagen’s German plants, industriAll Europe is deeply concerned about the situation in the automotive industry across Europe. At a time when social dialogue must steer a Just Transition towards a more digital and clean automotive industry, we see multinational companies making workers pay the costs for corporate strategic mistakes.
“This is even more outrageous, bearing in mind the support that car makers get from taxpayers’ money, the historical profits made by OEMs since COVID, the scale of dividends paid to shareholders, and the financial bonuses received by top management”, claimed Judith Kirton-Darling.
To defend the jobs in the European industry and a Just Transition that leaves no one behind, industriAll Europe is organising a demonstration in Brussels on 16 September with its Belgian affiliated organisations. The automotive industry is absolutely strategic for Europe, but our fears go beyond this specific sector. Industry, and its 30 million jobs, is a key condition of Europe’s welfare and prosperity, but also for our resilience and industrial autonomy in this turbulent world. This is why we invite all those who care about the future of our manufacturing industries to march with us in the streets of Brussels to the European Parliament.