Volkswagen discusses halting wage growth by 2030

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The Board of Management of the Volkswagen Group is still looking for ways to reduce costs. According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the latest proposal concerns the salaries for a large part of the world’s approximately 600,000 employees: They are to be frozen by 2030.

The plan emerges from internal documents for the global top management, which the “SZ” have been able to see, reports the newspaper. VW did not want to comment on this on request. A spokesperson referred to an ongoing process. The upcoming new round of negotiations is “the place to first bring about internal operational agreements of any kind”.

The 130,000 VW employees, for whom the house collective agreement applies, had already waived an agreed wage increase of 5.5 percent for the time being in the savings package 2024. As inflation decimates the salary, a multi-year zero-round in salaries would reduce the real income of employees in Germany by up to ten percent in the next few years if prices rise as usual. The loss could be even greater, because economic researchers expect a price increase of around three percent for this and next year.

The car manufacturer is under great pressure: US tariffs, the weakening Group subsidiaries Audi and Porsche, and the massive declines in the China business are only the grossest chunks. The switch to electromobility also cost a lot of money.