Starting on December 2, IG Metall is calling for a series of warning strikes by employees at plants covered by Volkswagen’s internal collective bargaining agreement.
The reason? The management considered that the proposal by IG Metall and the works council to save €1.5 billion on wages was “inadequate”!
IG Metall has declared “the most difficult wage battle Volkswagen has ever seen”. Indeed, at stake is the existence of 120,000 workers covered by the company’s collective agreement, as well as the 10,000 in Saxony who joined Volkswagen’s internal collective bargaining agreement in 2021.
For the car-making industry as a whole, 46,000 jobs were destroyed between 2019 and 2023. 146,000 are expected to follow between now and 2035.
For the current year, Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler profits are expected to range from €50 billion to €55 billion. But as profits at Volkswagen have been slightly less this year because the profit rate is not in line with that of other industries, and as the company’s management does not want to risk share prices and dividends going down, it exacts a 10% pay cut, the destruction of 10,000 jobs and the closure of three factories.
Workers and their union IG Metall are faced with the brutal laws of capitalism: the destruction of productive forces in response to falling profits. Clearly, the “traditional” wage struggle for collective bargaining will not be enough to face this issue. That is why IG Metall needs to call a national meeting of shop stewards from car companies and subcontractors to unite for no redundancies in the car-making industry! An end to dividend payments! Renationalisation of Volkswagen!
H. W. Schuster
International Workers Committee - Comité ouvrier international - Comité obrero internacional 