The number of employees at Volkswagen in Wolfsburg will be reduced by 3,000 jobs by 2030

According to a magazine report, the number of jobs at Volkswagen’s main plant in Wolfsburg will shrink by as much as 3,000 jobs in the next few years. Of the 13,000 employees currently in production, about 10,000 are likely to leave by the end of the decade, a “Magazin manager” reported Thursday, citing unspecified “decision makers” at the company.

She added that Works Council President Daniela Cavallo will likely participate, especially since there will be no layoffs. A Volkswagen spokeswoman noted that as part of the shift towards electric mobility, the socially acceptable reduction through partial retirement has been ongoing for some time. There are no new programs.

‘Pure speculation’

The Labor Council said that unlike well-known programs from the future agreement to the digitization roadmap to productivity-increasing goals, no further job cuts have been planned or considered. A spokesperson for the Labor Council referred to the previous statements of Chief Financial Officer Arno Antlitz, according to which these programs will now be implemented consistently. A spokesperson for employee representatives added that “any statement about what the number of employees in production at the main plant might look like at the end of the contract would be pure speculation.”

Cutting 3,000 jobs by 2030 would be a lot less than what CEO Herbert Diess painted on the wall a few months ago as a scenario should the group’s transformation not succeed. At that time there was talk of as many as 30 thousand jobs. This would be a quarter of the workforce to which the collective company agreement applies in German factories. Operational layoffs at Volkswagen until 2029 are also excluded.

compromise

The debate over job cuts nearly cost Dees his job in a power struggle with the Labor Council last year. Only after weeks of shuttle diplomacy, the chairman of the supervisory board, Hans-Dieter Pösch, was able to reach a compromise. This stipulated that Dess would remain in the position of CEO, but he had to relinquish some duties.

Insiders suspect that the truce could become fragile if the debate begins again. Cavallo faces a workforce vote for the first time in the March Labor Council elections. The competition for IG Metall, which dominates VW, is especially strong this time around. There are a total of eight menus to choose from.