Volkswagen and IG Metall Set November Date for Austerity Negotiations

The talks are slated to continue on December 15 at the company's manufacturing facilities in Emden and Zwickau. Management views these discussions as an urgent necessity to secure the group's long-term viability, citing a rapid deterioration in its financial standing. The company, which maintains a portfolio including Audi and Porsche, is currently grappling with a broad restructuring strategy designed to shave billions of euros from its annual budget.

These upcoming sessions build upon existing commitments from the 2024 collective bargaining agreement, which already outlined the elimination of 35,000 roles at German sites by 2030. Leadership is now pushing for an additional 12,000 job cuts within that same timeframe. With a global workforce exceeding 600,000 employees as of late 2025, the manufacturer faces intense scrutiny as it weighs plans that could effectively double the scale of its previous workforce reduction targets.