Workers protest in front of VW: fear of being fired

About 5,000 employees protested loudly against the threat of layoffs and plant closures atVolkswagen Volkswagen’s electric car plant in Zwickau . Before the extraordinary labor meeting, brand manager Thomas Schaefer was greeted with shouts of “whistles” and “fui” and booed by employees. “Trust is gone,” said one employee who claimed to have worked here for 30 years.

The employee protest at VW is something exceptional: the Wolfsburg-based company has never closed plants in Germany, but things are changing. The huge flop in sales of the electric car is forcing the automaker to economize as much as possible, and this will result in layoffs and closures.

VW must save money and announce plant closures in Germany

Volkswagen announced Monday (Sept. 2) that it would have to make significant savings on its core brand. Previously planned job cuts through partial retirements and severance payments are no longer sufficient to meet the savings targets set. Plant closures and layoffs at the core VW brand are no longer ruled out, Europe’s largest automaker has announced. The agreement reached with the works council to guarantee employment will be terminated. This excluded operational layoffs until 2029. For the first time in 30 years, there may be layoffs at VW.

Since then many employees have been afraid, including at the Saxon locations in Zwickau, Chemnitz and Dresden with about 11,000 employees. They must pay for management’s mistakes, complained one employee who vented her displeasure with a large banner in Zwickau. “I have always been proud to work at VW,” she said. But now many people on their team were also worried about their jobs, which they thought were safe. Many people have loans to pay back their homes and children. Many colleagues are just afraid of losing their jobs, said another protester.

Volkswagen switches to electric cars in Zwickau: sales are lagging behind

The Zwickau plant is Volkswagen’s largest site in Saxony and has been completely converted to electric cars in recent years with heavy investment. It is a pioneer in the group when it comes to electric mobility and also produces for Audi and Cupra. However, sales have been lower than expected, so the contracts of hundreds of temporary employees were not extended and the night shift on the two assembly lines was canceled.

Already in the spring, it was reported that VW was considering ending vehicle production at the transparent factory in Dresden. According to reports, no decision has been made yet. There the ID.3 is assembled in small quantities by about 340 employees. (wal/dpa)