Volkswagen layoffs: Workers look to grill CEO during plant visits over threat to 1,40,000 jobs — Here’s what we know

The works council of Volkswagen employees will hold extraordinary staff assemblies in August with CEO Oliver Blume to discuss plans risking up to 1,40,000 job losses at the German automaker, according to a Reuters report.

The meetings — where employees plan to grill Blume over potential job cuts — will be held at the German automaker’s headquarters in Wolfsburg on 25 August and on 26 August at the company plants in Emden and Zwickau, which are among those at risk of closure, it added citing an update to staff from the works council.

• Volkswagen could axe another 50,000 jobs on top of 50,000 job cuts already under way in order to become competitive on costs, Blume has said.
• The threatened plant closures after 2030 endanger another 40,000 jobs, the works council said.
• Responding to queries, a Volkswagen spokesperson told the news agency there are currently no agreements and declined to comment on the number of jobs that could be slashed.

Job cuts despite CEO’s ‘smarter solutions’ promise

Notably, the job cuts could come despite Blume appearing to rule out factory closures, telling Germany’s Bild am Sonntag that “there are smarter solutions” than shutting plants.

At least 1,00,000 jobs are at risk — 50,000 up from previously, AFP reported citing an internal memo. This will include 35,000 at its core Volkswagen brand under a 2024 deal with unions. The number would mark the biggest restructuring in the global auto industry’s history—surpassing the 50,000 jobs General Motors cut when the company declared bankruptcy in 2009.

The German car titan has come under intense pressure from US tariffs, slimmer profit margins on electric cars, and, above all, fierce competition in China, where carmakers are now increasingly exporting to Europe.

Volkswagen is not alone among German carmakers in seeing its business suffer in recent times. BMW and Mercedes-Benz have also suffered falling profits, in particular due to increased competition from local rivals in China, the world’s biggest auto market.

Unions criticise leaks, upset of workers

Meanwhile, unions have strongly criticised VW and Blume for unsettling employees by allowing media reports of mass job cuts to circulate without comment and are demanding that the CEO take a public stand.

In the internal memo reported by AFP, Blume insisted leaks to the media had been unplanned and said that reports of looming cuts had “annoyed” him. “The disclosure of such confidential, sensitive information not only unsettles our workforce; it is also damaging to the business,” he said.

(With inputs from Reuters)