An extraordinary workers’ assembly held at Volkswagen’s main plant in Wolfsburg saw strong objections to management’s downsizing plan. More than 10,000 workers gathered to protest at the assembly attended by senior executive Oliver Blume.
Volkswagen Works Council Chair Daniela Cavallo said the plants in Germany were an integral part of the Volkswagen Group. Cavallo said the restructuring debate had seriously damaged confidence in Blume and senior management, and rejected the plans for layoffs and plant closures.
"The plants in Germany belong to the Volkswagen Group and are an integral part of it. Our confidence in the management board, and especially in senior executive Oliver Blume, has been damaged. It is not yet beyond repair, but it has been seriously harmed."
The assembly also discussed a plan involving 50,000 potential job losses and the closure of five plants in Germany as part of radical cuts. In his first speech addressing the plans before the workers, Blume gave no indication that management would back down from its downsizing strategy.
Management cited cost pressures
Blume said the management board was fully committed to its downsizing strategy and preparing to take the necessary steps. He said Volkswagen’s current profit margin of around 3.8 percent would not be sufficient to finance future operations, attributing the company’s situation to aggressive competition from China, costly excess capacity in Germany and billions of dollars in US customs tariff costs.
Workers demanded nine information meetings
An article published on the company’s internal network said employees and their families were experiencing uncertainty and fear because of the management board’s "disastrous external communications." Workers’ representatives argued that management had so far provided only superficial information.
The representatives called for a total of nine information meetings to be held by the end of August at locations including Wolfsburg, Zwickau and Kassel-Baunatal.
Politicians and union opposed the plans
Lower Saxony Minister-President Olaf Lies said closing the plants could not be an option. Germany’s largest trade union, IG Metall, also announced that it would launch mass protests and take a tough stance if management continued to insist on its downsizing plans.
