"Historic attack"

VW terminates collective agreements, trade union up in arms

(Bild: APA Pool/APA/dpa/Hendrik Schmidt)

Volkswagen has now formally terminated the job security agreement that has been in force since 1994. Europe's largest car manufacturer announced on Tuesday that the corresponding letter of termination had been sent to the trade union. The employee representatives were furious. 

The contracts of VW employees will therefore expire at the end of 2024. Six months later, compulsory redundancies are possible, i.e. from July 2025. The Group intends to negotiate a new arrangement with the trade union and works council as quickly as possible, as Chief Human Resources Officer Gunnar Kilian announced.

Management Board decides to terminate contracts
In addition to the agreement on job security, which previously excluded such dismissals, several other agreements were also terminated, including the guarantee of employment for trainees and the regulations for temporary work. According to company sources, the Group Management Board had previously discussed and decided to terminate the contracts.

Daniela Cavallo, Chairwoman of the General and Group Works Council of Volkswagen AG, and Thorsten Gröger, District Manager of IG Metall in Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt

(Bild: APA Pool/APA/dpa/Moritz Frankenberg)

A new regulation is to be negotiated soon. The aim is to agree a follow-up arrangement by the time the job security scheme expires in mid-2025. "This period now gives us the opportunity to find solutions together with employee representatives on how we can make Volkswagen sustainably competitive and fit for the future," said Kilian according to the press release.

"Current phase is contributing to uncertainty"
"The current phase is contributing to uncertainty. We can counteract this if we create future-proof prospects for our company in a timely manner," said Kilian. The collective bargaining negotiations on the VW pay scale, which were not actually planned until October, are to be brought forward and extended to include the contracts that have now been terminated. This had previously been offered by IG Metall.

Just over a week ago, Volkswagen announced that it would be terminating the 30-year job guarantee and would no longer rule out plant closures. However, the Group had not yet given a date for this. The Works Council and IG Metall have been up in arms against the plans ever since.

"Historic attack on our jobs"
"So now the company has made what we have been assuming for days come true," said Works Council Chairwoman Daniela Cavallo. At the same time, she reiterated her opposition to the plans. "We will fiercely defend ourselves against this historic attack on our jobs. There will be no compulsory redundancies with us."