Volkswagen’s workforce has criticized the management’s external communication as ‘disastrous,’ citing widespread employee and family anxiety over the company’s cost-cutting plans.
The criticism emerged in an internal Betriebsrat (works council) intranet message reviewed by Reuters, published on Monday. The council had polled employees online the prior week, seeking clarity on future pension arrangements, severance terms, and the outlook for plants in Hannover, Emden, Zwickau, and Neckarsulm. VW CEO Oliver Blume is scheduled to address workers at an extraordinary Betriebsversammlung in Wolfsburg on Tuesday, with further meetings planned in Emden and Zwickau on Wednesday.
In a separate intranet interview published last Friday afternoon—after many employees had already left for the weekend—Blume described the situation as ‘more than critical.’ He noted that the group’s 3.8% operating margin, while solid under current conditions, falls short of generating sufficient funds for new technologies, product development, and site sustainability. He urged employees to support the upcoming cost-cutting measures, stating that ‘the next few weeks are crucial: everyone must pull together.’
The works council also highlighted Blume’s failure to provide specifics on the future of the four named plants or potential job reductions. Blume had previously announced plans to reduce European production capacity by 500,000 vehicles annually, citing uncompetitive prospects for Emden, Hannover, Zwickau, and Neckarsulm beyond 2030. He emphasized that overhead costs remain 30% higher than competitors’ and that the oft-cited figure of around 50,000 global job cuts is not a fixed target but rather an indicative benchmark derived from cost-competitiveness analysis.
The escalating internal tensions underscore the challenges facing Europe’s largest automaker as it navigates a sweeping transformation amid structural cost pressures and shifting market demands.
