Volkswagen : 2016 pay negotiations continue at Volkswagen

The negotiating committees of Volkswagen AG and the IG Metall trade union continued pay negotiations in Hanover today. The leader of the Volkswagen committee, Martin Rosik, Head of Human Resources of the Volkswagen Passenger Car brand, said after today's meeting: 'Today, we offered IG Metall the possibility of negotiations on the further development of early retirement at Volkswagen.'

Rosik emphasized: 'Volkswagen is facing fundamental structural change. The technological upheaval as a result of digitalization and electro-mobility will have an impact on almost every job. New skills will be required, while demand for other skills will decline compared with the present day. In addition, more intensive competition will mean that we will need to significantly improve our efficiency. A partial early retirement scheme with differentiation possibilities is a highly effective tool for mastering these challenges. It will also give employees an opportunity to shape their working life in a flexible way.'

Rosik explained the need for differentiation in a partial early retirement scheme as follows: 'Volkswagen is positioning itself on a firm foundation for the future and needs tailor-made differentiated solutions in this context. In key future-oriented areas, we will face additional tasks and need to develop know-how - by training personnel and adding new jobs. On the other hand, there will be areas where tasks previously performed will no longer be required. This is why we will need to tailor our partial early retirement offering to the various situations and employee groups.'

Rosik underscored: 'The pay negotiations continue to be held in a difficult environment. The market situation in many countries is tense. Competition is becoming increasingly tough and competitors from the IT and software industry with an extremely strong financial position are forcing their way into the automotive sector. Volkswagen wants to safeguard employment in Germany, which is why we will need to invest enormous amounts in digitalization and electro-mobility. We will need to earn these amounts first.' He added that the proposal concerning partial early retirement took this situation into account: 'Structural topics are the top priorities. Initially, we would like to explore the possibilities of achieving agreement in this area. Only then will we be in a position to assess what pay offer we can make.'

The collective agreement of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft applies to almost 120,000 employees at the Wolfsburg, Brunswick, Hanover, Salzgitter, Emden and Kassel plants as well as Volkswagen Financial Services AG.

Negotiations are due to continue on May 19, 2016.