Volkswagen union accuses management of violating agreement and threatens to stop cooperation

In a letter to Volkswagen brand CEO Herbert Diess, union leaders said Diess and human resources chief Karlheinz Blessing had ruled out hiring in the first half of 2017 and had drastically reduced temporary jobs in a short period of time, violating a "future agreement" signed in November last year. Although Volkswagen has said it will implement the agreement, tensions may arise.

After the Volkswagen diesel cheating incident was exposed, Volkswagen has been trying to get out of the scandal and paid high compensation in the United States and other regions. In addition, Volkswagen has increased its investment in electric vehicles and travel services. Faced with high expenses and investments, Volkswagen is trying to reduce expenses at its domestic operating center in Germany.

Last November, senior leaders and the union reached an agreement. According to the agreement signed by both parties, the Volkswagen brand will lay off 30,000 employees and try to avoid unnecessary redundancies. However, this plan did not allow Diess to see the desired effect in a short period of time. Diess is currently discussing revitalization strategies with investors.

It is reported that the agreement between the two parties will save Volkswagen 3.7 billion euros (4 billion U.S. dollars) in annual expenses in 2020 and increase the operating gross profit margin of the Volkswagen brand to 4%, while the estimated gross profit margin of the Volkswagen brand in 2016 was only 2%. In addition, some analysts pointed out that this agreement will also help the Volkswagen brand reduce costs.

The letter also said management's planned decision to cancel the night shift for the popular Golf hatchback, which is reportedly more expensive and accounts for about half of the Wolfsburg plant's production (808,000 last year), was also a violation of the agreement.

To force management to honor the November agreement, union leaders said they would stop cooperating on overtime, the number of interns and potentially extend engineers’ workweeks to 40 hours.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.