Powerful German manufacturing trade union IG Metall and the Volkswagen works council have dismissed speculation about possible plant closures at VW in Germany.
“Of course, all sites will remain open,” reads a joint statement issued on Friday by IG Metall president Christiane Benner, VW general works council chair Daniela Cavallo and IG Metall regional director Thorsten Gröger.
The employee representatives point to the collective bargaining agreement reached at the end of 2024 when, after lengthy negotiations, the company and the union had agreed on a restructuring programme.
The core VW brand plans to cut 35,000 jobs in Germany by 2030. In return, plant closures and redundancies for operational reasons were ruled out.
This compromise must not now be called into question, the employee representatives said. “There will be no plant closures with us as the General Works Council and IG Metall,” their statement continues.
The Works Council and the union also brought new business areas into the discussion. They said that if existing business models became “no longer be fully viable in the foreseeable future”, then new ones would “simply have to be found.”
In this context, the employee side also signalled a willingness to cooperate with external partners. What matters are good jobs, future prospects and secure employment, they said.
There has been recent speculation about the future of the VW plant in Osnabrück, which has a workforce of around 2,300.
Production of the Porsche models built in Osnabrück finished at the end of last year, and production of the VW T-Roc Cabrio will also cease in mid-2027.
There is no follow-up order as yet, although there is speculation that defence contractors could take over the plant.