Volkswagen workers boo boss during speech on job cuts
AFP
August 25, 2026
The boss of German carmaker Volkswagen warned workers on Tuesday to brace for more job losses, earning boos and jeers from the crowd, as the crisis-hit company faces a drastic round of cost-cutting.
VW, long a titan of German industry, has struggled with Chinese competition, US tariffs and patchy demand in Europe, including for its electric vehicles.
About 50,000 job cuts have already been agreed across the 10-brand Volkswagen Group — mostly at VW, Audi and Porsche — but the firm has said another 50,000 could be required worldwide to slash costs.
Speaking in front of about 10,000 workers at VW’s Wolfsburg factory, CEO Oliver Blume said for the first time that it was likely “about half of the adjustments required would fall in Germany”.
He also cast doubt on the long-term future of three VW plants and an Audi factory, all in Germany, while stressing the company was searching for ways to keep them open into the 2030s.
“If we carried on in Germany as we have been, we would be at a permanent disadvantage to the tune of 1.5 billion euros ($1.75 billion) a year,” he said, stressing that “we are under real pressure to act”.
Unions have accused VW of not being straight with workers after the latest plans were first reported by media and only later communicated internally.
Speaking to the crowd, VW Works Council chief Daniela Cavallo earned hearty applause as she accused management of keeping employees in the dark.
“Our trust in the board, in particular in its head Oliver Blume, has been damaged,” she said. “You can’t work with a CEO who doesn’t tell his staff what’s going on.”
Blume’s speech was repeatedly interrupted by jeering and whistling, a person present at the meeting told AFP, and workers held aloft signs saying: “Don’t balance your books with our jobs”.
IG Metall union leader Christiane Benner in a radio interview acknowledged the difficulties brought by Chinese competition and US tariffs but advocated cost-cutting measures other than job cuts.
Collapsing sales in China have started to look less like a blip for VW and more like the new normal at the same time as Chinese competitors like Chery and BYD gain market share in Europe.
Other carmakers have warned that German auto plants need to learn to do more with less as cost pressure has risen.
BMW opened a new plant in lower-cost Hungary last year and Mercedes-Benz unveiled an extension to its Hungarian Kecskemet plant last month, making it the firm’s largest in Europe.
Mercedes-Benz has a cost gap of about 70 percent between its Hungarian and German operations, CEO Ola Kaellenius said last month.
Any cuts at Volkswagen have to be negotiated rather than imposed, setting the scene for protracted and difficult talks.
Labour representatives have half the seats on supervisory boards at big companies under Germany’s system of co-determination.
The German state of Lower Saxony — a shareholder that is home to several VW plants including the Wolfsburg factory — also holds seats on the board.
Volkswagen workers condemn ‘disastrous’ communication over job cuts
Employees have criticised Volkswagen’s management as the German carmaker considers further job cuts and the future of several plants.
Volkswagen workers have sharply criticised the company’s management amid growing uncertainty over possible job cuts and the future of several German factories.
The chance to express their criticism and expectations of CEO Oliver Blume and the rest of the board via the company intranet led to ranking the communication as employees' number one grievance, even ahead of concerns about job security or possible factory closures.
According to the German Press Agency, employees and their families were left "uncertain and frightened."
The consultation was organised by Volkswagen’s works council ahead of a series of meetings between senior executives and employees.
CEO Oliver Blume and other board members are beginning a tour of Volkswagen sites for meetings with workers this week, and executives are expected to provide initial answers to the questions and responses to the criticism during these nine extraordinary works meetings, the first of which will take place on Tuesday, 25 August, in Wolfsburg.
It will be followed by others at followed by others at sites including Emden, Zwickau, Braunschweig and ending in Hannover on 31 August.
Volkswagen is seeking deeper cost cuts as the group struggles with fierce Chinese competition, weaker demand and US tariffs.
In a separate intranet post seen by AFP on Sunday, Blume said: "The situation is more than critical," adding that the firm was not making enough money to "ensure we have the means over the long term for new technologies, new products and our locations".
Volkswagen reported an 11.6% decline in its first-half operating result to €5.9bn, while its operating margin fell from 4.2% to 3.8%.
Volkswagen has already agreed to about 50,000 job cuts across brands, including its namesake as well as others like Audi and Porsche, but Europe's largest carmaker has since said cutting another 50,000 positions could be required.
Uncertainty also surrounds four German plants: Volkswagen sites in Emden and Zwickau, the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles factory in Hannover and Audi’s plant in Neckarsulm.
Volkswagen's supervisory board are discussing turnaround plans.
Blume said Sunday that Volkswagen and the rest of Germany's car industry are facing "the biggest upheaval in their history" from global headwinds and Chinese competition.
Other German carmakers have also warned about the country’s high production costs. Mercedes-Benz chief executive Ola Källenius said last month that costs at the company’s German operations were about 70% higher than at its plants in Hungary.
Reports about possible further job cuts at Volkswagen have angered unions, which have accused Volkswagen’s management of failing to communicate openly with employees.
Blume confirmed in July that the equivalent of up to 50,000 additional positions could be affected, but said the figure had been leaked to the media without his approval.
VW chief warns carmaker’s situation ‘more than critical’
AFP
August 23, 2026
Volkswagen’s CEO warned Sunday the company was in a “more than critical” state ahead of meetings with the car giant’s staff where he will defend the company’s savings plans.
In an interview posted on the company’s intranet and sent to AFP, Oliver Blume said Volkswagen and the rest of Germany’s car industry are facing “the biggest upheaval in their history” from global headwinds and Chinese competition.
The carmaker is weighing up huge job cuts. In the coming days, Blume will meet with employees at Volkswagen’s headquarters in Wolfsburg and sites in Zwickau and Emden to give updates on the company’s plans.
In the interview, Blume said that no decision had been taken on plant closures but reiterated the company’s position that for plants in “Emden, Hannover, Zwickau and Neckarsulm we cannot currently see any way of them remaining profitable in the 2030s.”
He said that the company also had to deal with the over-production of 500,000 vehicles per year in Europe.
Closing factories would always be “the last and most expensive solution.” Blume said.
He added that at sites where car production may stop, Volkswagen was exploring other “industrial solutions”, pointing to advanced talks with companies from the defence industry over using its factory in Osnabrueck.
Blume described the situation facing the company as “more than critical” and said its current level of profits was not sufficient to “ensure we have the means over the long term for new technologies, new products and our locations.”
– US tariffs, Mideast war –
Alongside competition in and from China, Blume named US tariffs, the war in the Middle East and regulatory burdens as key challenges for the company.
Asked whether he expected the situation to improve, Blume said “on the contrary, we have to assume that risks will get worse, worldwide.”
In July, Blume presented saving plans to Volkswagen’s supervisory board but no decision was taken.
German media reported at the time that the Lower Saxony state government, a major shareholder in the Volkswagen Group which holds 20 percent of the voting rights, refused to sign off on the plans.
The group has already ordered 50,000 job cuts and Blume said that agreements have already been reached with 37,000 employees.
Blume appealed to employees to pull together for the sake of the auto giant.
“We will only be successful if everyone in the company supports this plan,” he said.
The head of the IG Metall union on Friday sharply criticised management and promised to resist the factory closures.
Volkswagen’s “workers have already to accept hefty and painful cuts and now are getting another slap in the face,” Christiane Benner told the Wirtschaftswoche weekly.
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