The German union IG Metall on Sunday called for strikes at all Volkswagen factories from Monday. A few weeks ago, management announced that it wanted to close factories and cut wages for the remaining staff.
The unions already promised a “bitter and intense” fight against such cuts. A truce banning strikes at the carmaker expired on Saturday. “If necessary, this will be the toughest collective bargaining battle Volkswagen has ever known,” the union said in a press release.
Collective wage negotiations are already underway between unions and the Volkswagen leadership, but so far they have not yielded any results. A new round of these negotiations is scheduled for December 9.
About 120,000 people work in the German Volkswagen factories. Management would like to close three factories and cut tens of thousands of jobs. The remaining staff would have to make do with 10 percent less pay.