100K autoworkers strike in Volkswagen’s biggest German walkout in years
No punch backs… A year after the UAW went on strike against Detroit carmakers, autoworkers are driving another big labor movement. Nearly a third of all Volkswagen employees in Germany (~100K workers) participated in “warning strikes” on Monday and Tuesday to protest wage-cutting proposals put forth by Europe’s leading carmaker. Workers at nine of Volkswagen’s factories in Germany walked off the job for several hours, threatening to expand their strike if an agreement isn’t reached. It’s just the latest headache for the Beetle icon as European car sales slump and costs spike.
Bug problems: VW has the lofty goal of slashing $11B in costs by the end of next year to stay competitive with rivals like Tesla and China’s BYD. Its proposals include a 10% pay cut for workers and closing German factories for the first time in its history.
Stalled out: Negotiations between VW and workers haven’t gone well. Last week the union proposed forgoing wage hikes for two years in exchange for job security, but VW rejected the pitch.
A foot on the labor gas… Autoworkers have been at the forefront of reinvigorated labor momentum. Aside from last year’s historic UAW strikes against Ford, GM, and Stellantis, the union expanded into the largely nonunion South early this year by organizing a Tennessee VW plant. More recently, workers at battery plants co-owned by major automakers have also unionized.
Labor’s tired of footing the bill… Central to the VW dispute: workers’ resistance to being a cost that can be easily cut. A representative for Germany’s chancellor said that autoworkers, the backbone of the country’s most important industry, shouldn’t have to pay for poor management decisions.