Concern about job cuts at VW: Works meeting planned

In view of sluggish demand for electric cars, Volkswagen is threatening to cut jobs at its Zwickau plant. According to dpa information, there is talk of not extending temporary contracts of employees. Initially, this could affect a few hundred of the total of around 10,700 employees at the Saxon site at the end of October. More than 2,000 people currently work there on fixed-term contracts. Depending on the further market situation, they could now face the end of their jobs at VW for the foreseeable future. On Thursday, a works meeting is planned.

"It is a serious situation," said Saxony's Minister of Economic Affairs Martin Dulig (SPD) on Wednesday at the request of the German Press Agency. He said he has been in contact with the works council and his Lower Saxony counterpart Olaf Lies (SPD) for several weeks. "We want to show the employees a positive perspective, but we can't always discuss possible solutions in public right away." Dulig warned at the same time against artificially talking up "possible future scenarios."

For weeks now, uncertainty has been growing at the e-car factory in the face of sluggish demand. Many employees express concern. Now shop stewards from IG Metall have addressed the management with a letter. "Enough is enough! We finally want answers," the newspaper Freie Presse quoted from the letter on Wednesday. The alarm bells are obviously also ringing in the state government. "In the next few days, perhaps hours, we will hear regrettable news," said Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) according to "Leipziger Volkszeitung" at a CDU regional conference on Tuesday evening.

VW has converted its plant in Zwickau in recent years for 1.2 billion euros to a pure factory for electric vehicles. This year, production was supposed to increase. Instead, there could now be a reduction in shifts, as car buyers are now reluctant to buy electric cars in the face of high inflation and declining subsidies.