Angry VW workers issue ultimatum with threat of strike escalation in 2025

Volkswagen workers said its management had one last chance to compromise on Monday or risk strikes on a scale not previously seen next year, as talks were set to begin in a bitter standoff over wage cuts and plant closures.

VW staff downed tools at nine German sites, while thousands marched with flags and whistles to a square in Wolfsburg, where the carmaker is headquartered, to listen to union leaders.

The latest negotiations, which initially kicked off in September, come as Europe's largest carmaker seeks ways to radically cut costs in Germany to better compete with cheaper Asian rivals that have entered its home market.

The VW crisis has hit at a time of uncertainty and political upheaval in Europe's largest economy, as well as wider turmoil among the region's automakers. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, trailing in polls ahead of a snap election, warned VW against factory closures over the weekend.

Workers are staging four-hour strikes, the second walkouts in a week and for twice as long as the two-hour-long strikes that took place the first time.

Even before talks, union leaders were threatening more strikes if VW did not move closer to their position, but left open the possibility of a solution by Christmas.

"Today, the workforce is taking a stand in the form of a nationwide warning strike. Everywhere, at all locations, in all shifts, Volkswagen employees are stopping work, not for two hours as they did last time, but for four hours," union IG Metall chief negotiator Thorsten Groeger said.

"And if that isn't enough, the New Year's Eve fireworks will be followed by an escalation that this company has never experienced before," he said.

Groeger added that management had "one last chance" to get back on track in 2024, "then we can still find a solution with great flexibility this week or next week."

Workers, who have dismissed any cuts to wages or plant closures, can crank up the pressure on VW by eventually staging 24-hour strikes and even open-ended ones.

Cost-cutting

Volkswagen insists that capacity and wage cuts are needed because demand for cars in Europe has fallen while costs in Germany make it impossible to compete with new rivals.

Automakers face rising competition from China, where EV maker BYD recently said that between August and October it hired close to 200,000 new employees in car and component manufacturing.