On Sunday, employees of all Volkswagen plants in Germany were called to warning strikes, said Thorsten Groeger, representative of the German trade union IG Metall. The third round of negotiations, organized on Thursday, ended without result.
– Volkswagen will have to decide at the negotiating table how long and how intense this dispute will be, said Groeger, the union's chief negotiator with the car manufacturer. He noted that “if necessary, this will be the most difficult battle in collective bargainingVolkswagen has ever seen.”
Saturday evening the so-called ended period of peaceduring which strikes by Volkswagen employees could not take place.
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Strikes at Volkswagen
Volkswagen has already announced that it is preparing for Monday's strikes. – We want to minimize the impact of the warning strike on our customers, partners and industrial plants as much as possible – explained the Group's spokesman.
He stressed that the company respects the employees' right to participate in a warning strike. “The company continues to rely on constructive dialogue with employees to achieve a lasting and jointly supported solution,” he added.
The conflict between Volkswagen and its employees concerns the remuneration of approximately PLN 120,000. employees in plants with a separate internal wage agreement. The automotive concern has so far rejected any pay increases and is instead demanding a ten percent pay cut due to the Group's difficult situation. Plant closures and forced layoffs are also possible.