Volkswagen’s employee council says automaker plans to close at least 3 German plants

BERLIN — Volkswagen has informed employee representatives that it wants to close at least three plants in Germany, the head of the business’s works council said Monday.

Employee council chief Daniela Cavallo said at a conference with Volkswagen workers at the business’s Wolfsburg headquarters that management also plans cuts at other sites, and pledged to resist the plans, German information agency dpa reported. She said that “all German VW plants are affected by these plans. None is secure.”

There was no immediate comment from the business itself.

Volkswagen said in early September that auto industry headwinds cruel it can’t rule out plant closures in its home country, and must drop a job protection pledge in force since 1994 that would have barred layoffs through 2029. CEO Oliver Blume cited recent competitors entering European markets, Germany’s deteriorating position as a manufacturing location and the require to “act decisively.”

European automakers are facing increased competition from inexpensive Chinese electric cars. Volkswagen said last month that the business’s half-year results indicated it would not achieve its target of 10 billion euros ($10.8 billion) in expense reserves by 2026.

Volkswagen has some 120,000 employees in Germany, where it has 10 plants — six of them in the northern state of Lower Saxony, including Wolfsburg.

The IG Metall industrial union sharply criticized VW’s reported closure plans. “We expect that, instead of cutback fantasies, sustainable concepts for the upcoming be sketched out by Volkswagen and its management at the negotiating table,” regional union chief Thorsten Gröger said.

Pay negotiations between Volkswagen and the union are due to resume on Wednesday.