{"id":410103,"date":"2024-12-02T16:41:31","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T15:41:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2024\/12\/02\/crisi-volkswagen-scioperi-germania-italia\/"},"modified":"2024-12-05T17:13:09","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T16:13:09","slug":"volkswagen-crisis-doesnt-stop-workers-strike-in-germany-rising-concerns-for-italys-auto-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2024\/12\/02\/volkswagen-crisis-doesnt-stop-workers-strike-in-germany-rising-concerns-for-italys-auto-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Volkswagen crisis doesn’t stop: workers strike in Germany. Rising concerns for Italy’s auto industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – There is no sign of stopping the\u00a0automotive sector<\/a><\/strong> crisis involving the Volkswagen Group in Germany<\/strong>. After threatening to close numerous factories, workers and unions in the metal sector responded today (Dec. 2) with<\/strong> protests and strikes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The closure of factories<\/a>, which would involve cutting thousands of jobs, is a huge problem for German workers, adding to the absence of an understanding\u00a0on collective agreements<\/strong>. The Ig Metal<\/a>\u00a0union has organized “warning strikes”\u00a0<\/strong>at almost all group locations, including the automaker’s headquarters in Wolfsburg.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Warning strikes by Volkswagen Group workers. Credit: Ronny Hartmann \/ AFP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to Agence France Press (AFP) reports, this decision could be the “first stage of a social movement<\/strong> that could reach unprecedented proportions.” The unions have no intention of letting up, as they had preannounced.<\/p>\n

“Volkswagen has set fire to our collective agreements, and instead of putting out this fire in three collective bargaining sessions, the Board of Directors is throwing barrels of gasoline on it,” are the very firm words<\/a> of the\u00a0head of Volkswagen’s internal collective bargaining team Thorsten Gr\u00f6ger<\/strong>. Even clearer is the warning coming from Gr\u00f6ger: “If necessary, this will be the toughest collective bargaining battle<\/strong> Volkswagen has ever seen.”<\/p>\n

The question<\/strong> has been pending<\/strong> since September when the Volkswagen Group announced that it had to make decisions to remain competitive in the market<\/strong> due to excessively high production costs and difficulties in making its investment in electrics pay off.\u00a0According to Volkswagen division head Thomas Schaefer<\/strong>, the drastic decision to close “deadwood” plants came after finding that\u00a0production costs are “currently 25 to 50 per cent higher<\/strong>” than expected<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Germany’s zero growth<\/a>\u00a0was the starting point of the crisis, but it is the first time in Volkswagen’s history that\u00a0the decision was made to take action on domestic factories<\/strong>. Three (unsuccessful) negotiations with the unions have gone nowhere, and\u00a0the\u00a0fourth<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0round<\/strong>, according to AFP reports, will be on December 9<\/strong> with suboptimal preconditions, given Volkswagen management’s rejection of a counteroffer from the unions, described as “unworkable.”<\/p>\n

The economic crisis of one of Germany’s iconic brands is unfolding in parallel with a\u00a0significant political crisis<\/strong>, with the collapse of the governing coalition and the calling of early elections. After the fall of the government of the now ex-chancellor Olaf Scholz,\u00a0the debate on how to revive German industry<\/strong> is taking place in the political arena. In the run-up to the\u00a0February 23 election<\/a>, candidates will have to focus on a convincing strategy for the industry, which remains the driving force behind German exports, not forgetting Germany’s European commitments.<\/p>\n

Italy watches, concerned. PD calls for “urgent initiative” from Brussels<\/h3>\n

This crisis <\/strong>is\u00a0<\/strong>spreading like wildfire, striking even <\/strong>in other\u00a0European countries, such as Italy<\/strong>, where the resignation of Carlo Tavares, the CEO of Stellantis Group<\/a> (which includes several Italian brands, including Fiat and Lancia), is worrying.<\/p>\n

“In Germany, trade unions are reacting strongly, announcing the largest strike in the history of the Volkswagen Group<\/strong>,” say MEPs of the Democratic Party<\/strong>. From the EU, democratic MEPs call for\u00a0protecting workers <\/strong>without scapegoating the Green Deal and abandoning the green transition to\u00a0solve an industrial crisis. They expect from the Commission “an urgent initiative in which it is clarified as soon as possible how the crisis in the automotive sector will be approached and how the green transition of the automotive sector will be supported.”<\/p>\n

“The crisis is European<\/strong>, as evidenced by the strikes in Germany and the factory closures in Belgium<\/a>, and a European response is needed,” said\u00a05-Star Movement MEPs Gaetano Pedull\u00e0 <\/strong>and Pasquale Tridico<\/strong>. The two EU MEPs continue, “No windfall funding but precise conditionalities that allow the automotive sector to plan the necessary investments required for electric cars<\/strong>.” Great expectations for the EU and its new executive headed again by von der Leyen. The new commissioners, including the much-discussed\u00a0Teresa Ribera<\/a><\/strong> on green transition but also Apostolos Tzitzikostas<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>in charge of transport, will have to prove that they are up to the challenges that lie ahead in the automotive sector, which now, more than ever, needs a common strategy to avoid becoming a black hole for the European economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unions have called warning strikes to counter the wall put up by Volkswagen management regarding collective bargaining agreements. In Italy, disquiet is beginning to spread over a crisis that is increasingly looming as European<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7877,"featured_media":409804,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"0","show_view_counter":"0","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25705],"tags":[26267,26298,29872,29536,29528,29529],"class_list":["post-410103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-automotive-en","tag-crisi-automotive-en","tag-automobiles-en","tag-strikes-en","tag-volkswagen-and"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7877"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410103"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":410990,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410103\/revisions\/410990"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}