KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Volkswagen workers across Germany began striking Monday over the automaker’s plans to cut costs.
- The workers are pushing back on Volkswagen’s plans to close factories and slash jobs and pay.
- Volkswagen has around 300,000 workers in Germany and operates 10 plants there.
Volkswagen AG workers across Germany began striking Monday over the automaker’s plans to cut costs.
The German company is planning to slash jobs and pay and close factories, as it struggles with Chinese competition, high costs, and sluggish demand for electric vehicles (EVs).
According to Bloomberg, the workers have launched temporary walkouts at all except one of the company’s German plants, as they push back against Volkswagen’s plans to close up to three factories in the country and lay off thousands of workers.
Volkswagen has roughly 300,000 employees and operates 10 plants in Germany, according to The Wall Street Journal, which noted that plant closures would be the automaker’s first in the country.
Neither Volkswagen—whose shares reversed course in German trading Monday and recently were up 1%—nor labor union IG Metall immediately returned Investopedia requests for comment.
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