Volkswagen May Close Up to Four Plants in Germany Amid Worker Protests

Volkswagen is considering the possible closure of up to four plants in Germany as part of a sweeping cost-cutting programme. The news emerged amid growing worker protests and rising tension between company management and trade unions.

“Reliability and keeping agreements are not up for negotiation,” said Carsten Büchling, chairman of the works council in Baunatal, demanding that management honour the commitments made under the 2024 collective bargaining agreement. According to him, the Baunatal plant is economically stable, performing well, and has already delivered its share of the agreed savings.

Betting on the electric motor plant

On Friday, Volkswagen’s chief technical officer Thomas Schmall told employees in Baunatal that the company has a clear plan: to turn the plant into the group’s central hub for producing electric drive units. At the same time, however, management is demanding further cost cuts to keep production competitive.

The Baunatal plant is Volkswagen’s largest components facility, employing around 15,000 people. It manufactures, among other things, key components for electric drive systems.

A crucial supervisory board meeting on the restructuring plan is scheduled for 4 September. Reportedly, another meeting with employees will follow on 16 September, when management is expected to present more detailed plans.

CEO tours plants as unions protest

Volkswagen’s leadership, including CEO Oliver Blume, has spent recent days visiting German plants in an attempt to win employee support for the extensive savings programme. Blume has said the group has become too complex and too costly, and in its current form is losing competitiveness. The company plans to cut excess production capacity in Europe by more than half a million vehicles a year.

Unions, workers and regional politicians fear the restructuring could eliminate tens of thousands more jobs. In addition to the roughly 50,000 positions already planned or agreed for elimination by 2030, media reports suggest that as many as 50,000 additional jobs could also be on the line.

The tension between management and staff was on full display on Tuesday, when around 10,000 workers took to the streets in Wolfsburg in protest. Demonstrators carried banners and placards with slogans. Representatives of IG Metall, Germany’s largest trade union, confronted company leadership with demands such as “Stop breaching the collective agreement!” and “Our jobs are not a line item to balance your books!”

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz