To prevent the closure of Volkswagen factories, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Friday he was ready to offer help to the car manufacturer.
During a visit to a factory in the city of Emden, Habeck revealed that he also intends to ensure that agreements with workers remain within the normal framework of collective bargaining.
However, the minister made it clear that there are limits to what the State can do to support the German brand and added that the structure and viability of the business are up to the company itself. “Most of the changes have to be carried out by Volkswagen itself.“, he said, quoted by Reuters. “This is the company’s job“, he finished.
Habeck stressed that policymakers can help send positive signals to the market, noting that they want to encourage the shift to electric motors.
The warnings within the company were issued in early September. At a meeting with the works council, Volkswagen’s top executives revealed that they did not rule out closing factories in Germany, considering that a vehicle factory and a component factory were obsolete. If confirmed, this would be the first time that Volkswagen has closed a factory in Germany in its 87 years of existence.
In an attempt to justify the decision, the company’s financial director, Arno Antlitz, said at the time that the manufacturer has “a year, maybe two” to adapt to the sharp drop in car sales. In a meeting with employees at the headquarters in Wolfsburg, Antlitz revealed that he expects to sell 500,000 fewer vehicles than before the Covid-19 pandemic and therefore does not expect to return to the levels recorded in 2019. This reduction “is equivalent to the activity of two factories”.
The German company also revealed that it was forced to terminate an agreement with German unions, in force since 1994, which prevents job cuts until 2029, bringing that date forward to 2025.
The Volkswagen brand, which generates the bulk of the car group’s sales, is the first to be targeted by an attempt to cut spending of up to 10 billion euros by 2026, with the company trying to reduce costs to survive a transition to electric cars.
Source: www.jornaldenegocios.pt
