VW talks with unions are 'serious, critical and controversial', works council chief says

Volkswagen's works council chief said in an internal interview on Thursday that talks with the carmaker over planned cuts to its German sites were "abysmal" at the start and continued to be "serious, critical and controversial".

"We are not yet in a mode that could be called negotiation. It is first and foremost about numbers, data, facts, and finding a common understanding of the issues," Daniela Cavallo said, according to a copy of the interview seen by Reuters.

Volkswagen management has held weekly meetings since early October with worker representatives from each of its German plants laying out the facts and figures to establish where further cuts could be made and which models will be produced at which site.


Negotiations over wage increases happen separately, a union spokesperson said, with the next official negotiation round taking place on Oct. 30.

Still, unions say the three topics - savings, production plans and wages - must be discussed as a package, refusing to strike a compromise on one until a solution is found on all fronts.

IG Metall must also negotiate new labour contracts for the core VW brand's 130,000 workers in Germany, after the group ended agreements that had safeguarded employment at six of its plants in western Germany since the mid-1990s.

Juergen Mahnkopf, the deputy works council chief, said unions would "paralyse" the company if it made a one-sided decision to close plants against their will, threatening "massive resistance on all fronts and at all levels."

Tensions at the carmaking giant are running high as the spectre of factory closures, which would be a first for the company in Germany, set it on a collision course with worker representatives who make up half of its supervisory board and can sway decisions on company strategy.