As wage negotiations at Volkswagen enter a third round, employees are offering to accept wage cuts in exchange for assurances from the company that it will not close German plants and will guarantee job security.
The deadline imposed by the unions is only 10 days away. After that, strikes are likely to take place at several German manufacturing plants, Euronews reported.
About 120,000 Volkswagen employees in Germany are involved in the negotiations, almost half of the country's total workforce of about 300,000.
On 20 November, workers from the IG Metall union announced that they were prepared to accept wage cuts in order for the company to keep its plants open and avoid mass layoffs.
The company's works council and the union presented a proposal to cut labour costs by €1.5 billion. In return, however, they have demanded a guarantee that the future of all Volkswagen's German plants will be secure, as well as job security guarantees.
If the company does not agree to these demands, the workers could launch a serious strike from 1 December. At present, Volkswagen has not yet agreed to cancel its plans to close the German plants, increasing the risk of possible strike action soon.
The Workers' Council said this plan, proposed by the company's employees, is to facilitate a mutually beneficial and sustainable solution that will not harm workers' livelihoods while reducing the company's losses.
Volkswagen, like several other European automakers, has faced increasing competition from its Chinese rivals, slowing demand for electric vehicles and a slowing German economy over the past few months.
In October, the company unveiled plans to close at least three German manufacturing plants and cut tens of thousands of jobs. It also asked the remaining workers to accept a 10% pay cut. | BGNES
