Volkswagen apparently plans to freeze salaries

Volkswagen is tightening its austerity measures. According to consistent reports, salaries worldwide are to be frozen for several years. The group does not want to comment on this. According to the works council, the car manufacturer Volkswagen wants to freeze the salaries of its approximately 660,000 employees worldwide by 2030. The Group Board of Management has “directed personnel managers worldwide to ‘zero rounds until 2030’, i.e. to freeze the current tariff level and suspend any pay increases”, reported the trade union IG Metall on Monday with reference to an information of the European and global group works council of VW to the workforce. It confirmed plans of the group, which had first reported the Süddeutsche Zeitung. The newspaper cited an internal paper called "Group Target Picture". It spoke of a reorientation in international collective bargaining. The measure also includes variable remuneration, special payments and other benefits. Cuts are possible here, they say. No comment from Wolfsburg VW did not want to comment on the report to the ARD financial editorial team and referred to the upcoming collective bargaining negotiations. These are expected to start at the end of November. According to IG Metall, negotiations are being held on both the VW house tariff and the area tariff for the metal and electrical industries, which applies to Audi, MAN and Porsche, among others. The union demands five percent more money. Workers’ representatives described Volkswagen’s plans as unrealistic and said they expect strong resistance. According to the works council, the specification of the Group Board of Management has been in effect since the beginning of October. Volkswagen thus deviated from previous practice, in which inflation compensation and scope for decentralised collective bargaining were always planned in the personnel cost budgets. In Germany, the Wolfsburg car company employs around 275,000 people, of which 130,000 fall under the VW house tariff. For the VW subsidiaries Audi, Porsche and MAN, the area tariff agreement with IG Metall applies. "Wishful thinking on the part of employers" Therefore, Volkswagen's demand is the subject of collective bargaining, which has already begun. "Such a wishful thinking of the Wolfsburg employer side can not become real," said the VW works council. The employer side has not yet officially submitted its demands for this. "The zero-round plan now gives a first taste," the union added. IG Metall also sharply criticised the tariff plans. The VW Group is thus breaking with the previous practice, which has always provided for inflation compensation in the worldwide personnel cost budgets and has also continuously included tariff increases. The union fears real wage losses of at least ten percent should the plans be realized. The Volkswagen Group has already adopted comprehensive savings measures. The plan is to cut 50,000 jobs worldwide. In addition, some plants are about to be closed. For the plants in Emden, Hanover, Zwickau and the Audi site in Neckarsulm, no "competitive follow-up occupancy" has been found. Concepts for a possible further operation - also with other tasks - will be presented by VW in the coming year.