Volkswagen’s powerful labour unions have called on the company to create more work for its German plants by increasing investment there and create a new model for local production to save jobs.
VW works council Chief Bernd Osterloh told Reuters in Berlin that the works council viewed with great concern that the current budget round at VW was not making any headway.
Osterloh criticised a failure by management to yet say how it plans to use its German production capacity to create and save jobs in the company.
“That is completely incomprehensible because a high capacity utilization of German plants is crucial for the success of the company and the jointly agreed future pact.
“Only by means of high capacity utilization can we achieve the productivity targets,” he said.
A spokesman for the carmaker said: “the issues raised here are relevant and currently under discussion”, declining to elaborate.
The unions are concerned that a 3.8 per cent drop in VW’s vehicle production in Germany in the first half of the year due to waning demand for the current Golf and Passat models could lead to further cuts in cost of production.
Europe’s largest carmaker last November agreed with its German unions to cut thousands of jobs at the core VW brand through natural attrition over the next eight years in exchange for a commitment to avoid compulsory redundancies.
The unions and management earlier this year resolved a dispute over how to implement a turnaround plan for the troubled VW brand but the company still has to come up with a multi-billion-euro investment plan by November. (Reuters/NAN)
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