VW crisis meeting in Hanover: IG Metall sets end-of-October ultimatum
Volkswagen has terminated ten collective agreements covering about 130,000 workers. IG Metall wants them withdrawn by month-end or strikes could follow from January.
Archive image · Photo: Recherche, Scans, Arbeitsleistung gestiftet von: Bernd Schwabe in Hannover / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 (cropped and resized)
Volkswagen, the IG Metall union and the works council are meeting in Hanover on Friday for a second review of the 2024 job-security agreement. The meeting is not a negotiation but an assessment of whether the deal's basis has changed. In late September, VW terminated ten collective agreements in full or in part, effective Dec. 31, 2026, including rules on working hours and leave. About 130,000 employees of Volkswagen AG in Germany are affected.
IG Metall has given the carmaker until the end of October to withdraw the terminations and is threatening industrial action otherwise. "We are not looking for conflict, but we are prepared," regional union leader Thorsten Gröger said. The union is also seeking a 5% pay rise. Personnel board member Arne Meiswinkel countered: "Volkswagen honors its contracts," calling the market changes "structural and profound."
According to reports, the "Future Plan 2030" envisages 50,000 further job cuts worldwide, roughly half of them in Germany. The future of the Emden, Hanover and Zwickau plants beyond the early 2030s is uncertain. Formal talks must begin by early December; the no-strike obligation expires on Dec. 31.