For united action and an end to policy based upon competition between plants in different locations!
On 3 September 2026, the Volkswagen (VW) Supervisory Board voted unanimously in favour of drastic cost-cutting plans. Yet just days earlier, the press had been reporting on an impending confrontation, even suggesting a full-scale escalation.
It was said that the various sides on the VW Supervisory Board were at loggerheads with one another. These were, on the one hand, the eight representatives of management and private shareholders, which primarily represents the interests of the Porsche and Piech families who own 53% of VW’s voting shares. On the other side, the state of Lower Saxony (led by SPD Minister-President Olaf Lies) with two representatives and 10 employees’ representatives (mainly IG Metall (Industriegewerkschaft Metall) union members), who had voted against the Executive Board’s plan at the last Supervisory Board meeting in early July. This structure is due to a special VW law that the state representatives together with the employees’ reps have a majority on the Supervisory Board.
Before the meeting the Executive Board, the very top managers, announced they would push through its cost-cutting programme – including the loss of a further 50,000 jobs, on top of the 50,000 job losses agreed just under two years ago, and the prospective closure of the VW sites in Emden, Hanover, Zwickau and the Audi plant in Neckarsulm – over the heads of the Supervisory Board if necessary – although it is not clear if they legally could have done this.
Unanimous resolution
But this wasn’t necessary at all. People rubbed their eyes in surprise when on September 3, a day earlier than originally planned, the Supervisory Board passed a unanimous resolution paving the way for further massive cuts and job losses. This means that the IG Metall members of the supervisory board – led by IG Metall General Secretary Christiane Benner and General VW Works Council Chair Daniela Cavallo – all voted in favour. Whereas just a few days ago they were saying “not on our watch”, they are now welcoming the “end of the confrontation”. They claim: “No plant has been abandoned and, contrary to several media reports, no plant closure has been finalised. Rather, concrete solutions must now be worked out for all sites – and we continue to hold the Executive Board explicitly responsible for this.” (see: https://www.igm-bei-vw.de/meldung/vw-aufsichtsratssitzung-eskalation-verhindert-vorstand-muss-jetzt-seine-hausaufgaben-machen)
The IG Metall leaders suddenly saw management’s plans as a viable blueprint for the future. Ignoring the doubling of job losses they simply said that the core VW brand and the components plants are not to be spun off, and the attack on the co-determination structures has thus been fended off. The extent to which these are guaranteed remains unclear. Above all, however, this is of little use if the co-determination structures are not utilised to vote against the job losses and cutback plans. An alternative to this policy pursued by the union leadership must be developed as a matter of urgency.
What the resolution means
According to the statement by the VW Executive Board and all its press releases
management has largely had its way with its plans. In summary, these are as follows:
The ‘operating profit margin’ is to be increased to 9 per cent by 2030 (from just under 4 per cent), through “greater efficiency”, “greater speed” and “a noticeable increase in competitiveness”. This means nothing other than a further intensification of work and a reduction in labour costs.
The company’s website goes on to state:
“a concept for a sustainable and competitive production structure is to be developed for the European plants by the end of June 2027. With its resolution, the Supervisory Board acknowledges that Volkswagen Group’s European capacity currently exceeds demand by more than 500,000 units and that a competitive future production allocation for the Emden, Zwickau, Hanover and Neckarsulm plants cannot currently be secured on a staggered basis from 2031 to 2034. In parallel and in addition, alternative uses for these plants are being assessed” (see Supervisory Board approves Future Plan 2030: A strong signal for Volkswagen Group | Volkswagen Group)
This means nothing other than that production at these plants is to be phased out. The Wirtschaftswoche, a weekly paper representing the interests of big business, also describes the decision as “Oliver Blume’s masterstroke”: “All members of the supervisory board have accepted that there is, in fact, no longer any use for the plants.” (see: https://www.wiwo.de/unternehmen/auto/volkswagen-die-einigung-auf-den-vw-rettungsplan-ist-oliver-blumes-meisterstueck/100251923.html)
The “examination of alternative uses” essentially means the possibility of selling them off, for example to arms manufacturers. On September 7 it was announced that the former VW plant in Osnabruck was being sold to a consortium of the Lower Saxony state and an Israeli investment group that will switch its production from cars to military components. Quite apart from the fact that rearmament and arms production should be categorically rejected – as a number of active works council members and union representatives at VW are doing (see https://solidaritaet.info/2026/05/ no-to-arms-production-at-vw/), it would simply mean that, at best, a small proportion of jobs would remain under worse conditions. The announced plant closures are therefore by no means prevented, as Daniela Cavallo had previously declared to be the aim.
The result – a further 50,000 jobs under threat
The job cuts planned by the Executive Board – namely a further 50,000 jobs on top of those 50,000 already agreed for 2024 – are now also set to go ahead in full:
“Given intensifying global competition, shifting demand and technological change in the automotive industry, a consistent alignment of workforce capacity with economic reality is essential. According to the analysis underlying the Future Plan 2030, a Group-wide workforce adjustment of approximately 50,000 positions – including management roles – will be necessary.” (VW website)
The phasing out of certain products at the plants mentioned will also mean that jobs will be lost at other component plants. This drastic cutback plan is now to be implemented immediately. Under the headline ‘Accelerating implementation’ the VW website states that “with today’s resolution, the Future Plan 2030 moves into further implementation. Measures already under way will be pursued consistently; the further steps will be initiated immediately. Where agreements with employee representatives are required, the responsible bodies of the brands and subsidiaries will be involved and discussions will begin promptly. These employee representatives are currently allowing everything to be dictated to them. The question remains, however, as to exactly how these further cuts are to be carried out, given that there are already difficulties in implementing the job cuts from the last announcement without redundancies.
It must be noted that this decision serves the interests of Porsche/Piech families. It runs counter to the interests of VW’s workforce. It is a scandal that the IG Metall representatives on the Supervisory Board have agreed to job losses.
VW: Stop Co-Management! For a resolute fight against job cuts!
The scandalous approval by the workers’ representatives on the Supervisory Board of the massive job-cutting and cost-saving plans at VW is part and parcel of the policy of co-management pursued by the works council and the IG Metall leadership.
Two years ago, following lengthy negotiations and a few warning strikes, IG Metall and the works council had already agreed to the suspension of bonus payments and the loss of 50,000 jobs which was presented by the IG Metall leaders as a ‘Christmas Miracle’, but the reality has been very different. (See: https://solidaritaet.info/2025/01/weihnachtswunder-bei-vw/).
Thorsten Donnermeier, IG Metall shop steward at VW Kassel*, explains: “Let’s remember the 2024 collective agreement: bonus payments suspended, holiday pay scrapped. The pay scale is to be slashed by six grades. We weren’t consulted. Not even two years have passed and here we are again. Ever since the ink dried on the 2024 collective agreement, we’ve been told once more that we’re not competitive, that a few billion are still missing here and a few million there. The fact that we’re back in this situation again means we cannot trust the agreements or the management.”
Like a growing number of union members at present, he recognises the need for IG Metall to organise the struggle consistently instead. Even back then, following the Executive Board’s unilateral termination of the job security agreement and the first announcement of 50,000 job cuts, there has been no consistent resistance. At best, warning strikes lasting a maximum of four hours were held. Whilst the fighting spirit of the colleagues – around 90 per cent of whom are members of IG Metall – was not fully utilised even back then, this time there has been no mobilisation at all so far. For the upcoming nationwide day of action organised by IG Metall in the automotive industry on 21 September, VW colleagues are only being asked to clock off for one hour and gather outside the factory gates. Following this complete capitulation without consulting the workforce affected, the question is to what extent this call will be heeded.
Organise rather than resign
It would come as no surprise if many union members were now to throw their membership cards in the bin out of anger and frustration. That, however, would be the wrong move. Instead, every effort must now be made to transform the trade union into a fighting organisation, including replacing the top officials who, with salaries that are not precisely disclosed, have clearly lost all touch with the hardships faced by colleagues on the ground.
There are initial signs of class-struggle-based networking, such as that among IG Metall shop stewards at Mercedes, VW and elsewhere, who say: “We oppose the planned job cuts and reject any further cuts. We are getting involved in our trade union and are demanding that demonstrations be organised as soon as possible against the bosses’ greed, against the government and for a better future. Right up to a strike. And if the union leadership drags its feet, then we’ll do it ourselves.” (see:https://solidaritaet.info/2026/08/schluss-jetzt-protest-widerstand-streik-2/).
Networking among militant colleagues
It must now be made clear: the approval of these drastic cuts by the IG Metall representatives on the supervisory board does not mean approval by most union colleagues. If the current IG Metall leadership is unwilling to lead the fight against this “madness” – as Daniela Cavallo described Oliver Blume’s plans just a few days before the supervisory board decision – then union members must organise themselves and build resistance from the bottom up. This applies to VW and the entire car industry.
For what is being done here at VW, with one of Germany’s largest concentration of union members, is intended to set a precedent to be replicated in other workplaces. And it makes it clear that the current IG Metall leadership will also be quick to agree, without a fight, to a half-hearted compromise – and, if necessary, to accept concessions – in the metalworkers’ collective bargaining round this autumn, rather than using it to wage an offensive struggle against job cuts and wage concessions. That is why it is now even more important to build a systematic network of militant colleagues at grassroots level to develop a struggle for combative trade unionism. A nationwide meeting of militant IG Metall activists, to be held before the IG Metall collective bargaining round and for which the broadest possible mobilisation is organised, would be an important step forward. This could also be tackled in conjunction with the trade union activists’ network currently being formed by militant colleagues from various DGB trade unions, which has had, so far, two online meetings of between 120 and 240 participants.
Self-organisation
To wage the struggle against the consequences of this decision, it is essential that union colleagues at the grassroots level in the VW plants exchange views, discuss strategies and decide on a course of action. Members should exercise their right to go to the works council collectively and demand information regarding their concerns. They should make their anger clear to the Works Council over the fact that these drastic cuts were approved at the Supervisory Board meeting. They should demand a works meeting with unrestricted discussion to debate the cost-cutting decision and the possibilities for resistance. Pressure should be brought to bear via the shop stewards to ensure that, on the IG Metall Day of Action in protest against the planned job cuts and further austerity measures, work is not merely suspended for an hour, but that production comes to a standstill across all shifts – if necessary through an all-day works meeting, which can be continued the following day should further discussion be required. If IG Metall and the Works Council block this, it will be necessary to discuss possible actions from the grassroots, bypassing the IG Metall leadership, and to organise from the bottom up – just as, for example, colleagues at Opel Bochum began their struggle independently of the official structures in 2004. At that time, the workforce organised strikes independently with the help of action committees and extraordinary works meetings. In the immediate term, colleagues could rally around demands such as:
– No to the VW Supervisory Board’s resolution
– An end to social partnership, competition between plants for work and the race to the bottom
– No to job cuts
– No to phased plant closures
– No to spin-offs
– Distribution of work amongst all – drastic reduction in working hours with full wage compensation
– Disclosure of the company’s accounts
Joint struggle and solidarity are needed to counter attempts to pit workers at different sites, both nationally and internationally, against one another. The trade unions must also pull together internationally to coordinate the resistance.
Plan for the future
Furthermore, it is of course important for workers and their organisations to have their own ideas on how to prevent job cuts. In doing so, we must not remain confined by the logic of capitalist profit. For this logic always means that workers bear the brunt of the suffering. Yet it is they who have created the value in the first place. As a first step, there should be the demand for the disclosure of all accounts. Contrary to the absurd demand by car industry bosses to increase working hours in the face of job cuts, unions must call for the distribution of existing work amongst everyone – in other words, a drastic reduction in working hours whilst maintaining full pay.
Sack the bosses, not the workers
The entire cutback plan, which will see tens of thousands of people lose their livelihoods, is tailored to the interests of a handful of major shareholders. Why should colleagues sacrifice their futures for the further enrichment of billionaires? Instead, IG Metall should take its own constitution seriously, in which the goal of the socialisation of key industries is enshrined. A programme that goes beyond the constraints and limits of the logic of profit, competition and capitalist madness needs to be developed. The response to Porsche/Piech’s demands should be that anyone who wants to cut thousands of jobs should be expropriated! Then VW must be transferred entirely into democratically controlled public ownership and its future transformed.
Democratic control and management
Workers have the expertise to develop and implement plans for useful products. Instead of going along with arms conversion plans focused on the production of drones, tanks and combat vehicles etc., there is a huge need to improve the quality of life for most people. For the expansion of public transport – trains, trams and buses – and for energy saving and the prevention of heat-related deaths: heat pumps and cooling systems, and much more. If key economic sectors were publicly owned and run under democratic control and management by the working population through elected bodies, the objective could be something other than profit maximisation. Working conditions could be massively improved whilst, at the same time, producing goods that serve the interests of most of the population and are climate-friendly. This would highlight the need for general democratic economic planning based on socialist democracy and offer an alternative to the capitalist system with its regular crises and regular attempts to lower living standards.
These demands would form the basis for a targeted struggle to preserve jobs and bring about a meaningful reorientation of production:
– Expropriate Porsche/Piech
– Transfer of VW into full public ownership
– Democratic control and management of enterprises and production by democratically elected representatives from the workforce and the working population
– Conversion of production to socially useful products such as buses, trains, heat pumps, etc., rather than arms production
If you’re angry too and want to fight, get in touch!
* Job title is used solely to identify the person