VW faces protests in Germany over proposed job cuts and factory closures

The protests will target factories producing cars for Volkswagen but also others in the manufacturing group. Photograph: Carmen Jaspersen/Reuters View image in fullscreen The protests will target factories producing cars for Volkswagen but also others in the manufacturing group. Photograph: Carmen Jaspersen/Reuters VW faces protests in Germany over proposed job cuts and factory closures Demonstrations at 18 sites set up as radical transformation plan put to board of Europe’s biggest carmaker Volkswagen’s proposal to slash up to 100,000 jobs and close factories faces a major test on Thursday as formal proposals are put to the supervisory board at Europe’s biggest carmaker, with protests planned at all plants in Germany . IG Metall, the influential staff union, has organised demonstrations involving shop stewards and union council members at 18 sites, including the company’s headquarters. It warned the chief executive, Oliver Blume, that he cannot “pass the buck for failures of recent years on to the workforce”. Christiane Benner, the chair of the union, said: “This sends a clear signal to the board,” which will be asked to review the dramatic plans, leaked to the media last month, for the first time today at VW’s headquarters in Wolfsburg. The demonstrations will target factories producing cars for VW but also others in the manufacturing group, including the Audi and Porsche plants, along with the truck and bus maker Man between 11.20am and 2pm on Thursday. Blume has drawn up a radical transformation plan , with the key sticking points being the possible closure of four ​German plants – Hanover, Emden, Zwickau and Audi’s Neckarsulm site – as well as up to 50,000 in ​additional job cuts tied to it, sources have said. With more than 650,000 staff across Germany and about 3 million employed directly and indirectly by the country’s car industry, the board meeting is also being seen as a major test for the future of the German economy. In addition, the company is reviewing ⁠its sprawling structure and may carve out or spin off its core brand division and components technology business ​in an attempt to simplify the conglomerate’s sprawling structure. The presentation by Blume’s team comes after the car trade representative body, the VDA, warned of potential employment collapse across the sector in Germany and the wider continent unless “bold decisions” were taken, including the potential sell-off of unviable plants to foreign car companies. The carmaker employs more than 650,000 people across all its brands, which include Audi, Bentley, Skoda, Seat and Cupra, and has been hit hard by growing Chinese competition and the struggle to shift to electric cars from combustion engines. Months of talks with unions would follow if the proposals are accepted by the board, which is made up of company representatives, union representatives and local politicians, a structure set under the Volkswagen Act, a set of laws passed in the 1960s designed to protect the carm