Volkswagen: unions warn up to 115,000 jobs at risk in Germany

Volkswagen's workers' representatives warn that, in the most extreme scenario, up to 115,000 jobs could be at risk in Germany. The figure, worked out by works council chair Daniela Cavallo and reported by Handelsblatt, is not an official target set by management, but the sum of the various measures that employees fear could hit German jobs.

Chief executive Oliver Blume has spoken for weeks of a theoretical need to cut around 50,000 jobs worldwide to bring the group's costs back to competitive levels. Speaking to more than 10,000 employees gathered in Wolfsburg, he said around half of that, 25,000 jobs, could affect Germany, while stressing that the 50,000 figure is not a decision already made.

On top of this come the roughly 50,000 job cuts already agreed by 2030 across Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche and software subsidiary Cariad, to be carried out through socially sustainable measures and, as far as possible, without forced redundancies. Agreements have reportedly already been signed for more than 37,000 departures.

The plants dilemma

The thorniest issue concerns the factories. Volkswagen has not yet set out a viable production outlook beyond 2030 for its plants in Emden, Hanover and Zwickau, or for Audi's Neckarsulm site. Without alternative production, the works council says a further 40,000 workers could be affected. It is the sum of these three figures that produces the 115,000 estimate.

Blume maintains that no closure has been decided and describes shutting plants as “the last and most costly option.” The group is weighing other options, including cooperation with the defence industry and shifting to Europe the production of some models currently built mainly for the Chinese market.

Tensions remain high: Blume's speech in Wolfsburg was met with boos and protest banners. Cavallo accused the leadership of failing to clearly explain the group's real plans to employees, saying trust in the management board and its chairman “has been damaged,” though not yet irreparably.

Behind this lies a broader crisis in the German car industry: competition from Chinese manufacturers, falling profits in China, weak European demand and the cost of US tariffs. Blume has estimated that the group's overall costs are more than 30% higher than competitors', with margins below 4%, which he says would not be enough in the long run to fund new technologies, products and plants.

The decision now moves to the supervisory board, which failed to approve Blume's plan in July and will discuss it again on 4 September. Unions and the state of Lower Saxony, a major Volkswagen shareholder, have drawn up alternative proposals. The state's premier, Olaf Lies, has called for solutions that avoid closing plants.