Thousands of Volkswagen workers go on strike across Germany

Tens of thousands of Volkswagen (VW) workers are taking part in strikes at plants across Germany on Monday in light of the carmaker’s plans to carry out mass layoffs and shut down several factories in the country.

According to labor union IG Metall, workers are protesting at nine of VW’s German plants, including the company’s headquarters in Wolfsburg. Walkouts also reportedly took place at the Hanover plant, which employs around 14,000 people, and at the company’s other factories, including Emden, Salzgitter, and Brunswick.

Union sources told Reuters that a two-hour strike at VW’s main plant in Wolfsburg alone means several hundred cars, including the iconic Golf, cannot be built.

The strikes, which are planned to last several hours, come after a mandatory peace period between workers and the company, which prohibited industrial action, expired on Saturday.

The automotive giant has been negotiating for several weeks with unions over plans to overhaul its business in order to remain competitive in light of higher energy costs, and weaker demand in China and Europe.

“If necessary, this will become the toughest wage dispute Volkswagen has ever seen,” Thorsten Groeger, the chief negotiator of labor union IG Metall, said in a statement on Sunday. He noted that the length and intensity of the dispute will depend on “Volkswagen’s responsibility at the negotiating table.” 

The fourth round of negotiations will take place on December 9. It would either result in both sides finding common ground or an escalation, head of Volkswagen’s works council, Daniela Cavallo, has said.

VW says 120,000 of its workers need to take a 10% pay cut and has proposed closing three of its ten German plants. The company has not yet publicly revealed exactly how many of its roughly 300,000 workers in the country would be laid off.

Throughout its almost 90-year history, VW has never closed a plant in its home country. The last time it shut down any of its facilities was in 1988 in the US.

Germany’s automotive sector has been struggling amid soaring energy costs, sluggish European demand, rising competition from China, and a slower-than-expected electric vehicle transition.

The weakness in the auto industry has sparked concerns about the health of the EU’s largest economy and the possibility of a further downturn. Germany already endured a recession last year.