Volkswagen bosses: employees must be “willing to accept cuts”

“Weak market demand in Europe and a significant drop in revenue from China highlight decades of structural problems at Volkswagen. Our costs in Germany should be reduced significantly,” Blume told Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

According to the director, the company’s costs to remunerate staff in factories in Germany are twice as high as similar costs “on average in European branches.”

It is obvious that the course towards cost reduction will be associated with massive layoffs. Both Bloome and union representatives have spoken out about this before. The country’s authorities also spoke out: they consider Volkswagen’s ten factories in Germany to be a national asset and believe that the automaker is obliged to provide jobs to people.

Gunnar Kilian responds that everyone must carefully weigh the market situation and that employees must be “willing to accept cuts” in the current situation of the stagnant European car market. Previously, Blume also spoke about discontent with the reality of the automotive industry in the country and the region.

“However, Volkswagen has the potential to reverse this negative trend,” says Kilian. This will require restructuring, after which, probably, some facilities and production divisions will be able to “move” to other countries.