Volkswagen workers criticise board’s communication

BERLIN, Aug 24 (Reuters) – Volkswagen employees have criticised what they called the management board’s “disastrous external communication” as Europe’s largest automaker considers further cost cuts, according to an internal works council article seen by Reuters on Monday.

An online survey, conducted last week by Volkswagen’s Group works council, found that employees and their families were “unsettled and frightened” by the board’s public communication, the article said.

Employees also raised concerns about job security, the future of early-retirement and severance programmes, and prospects for Volkswagen’s plants in Emden, Hanover, Neckarsulm, Osnabrueck and Zwickau.

In an internal company memo on Friday, CEO Oliver Blume said four of those plants were not expected to reach competitive capacity utilisation in the 2030s, but stressed that there was no decision yet on specific plant closures. 

The workers criticised the lack of details on the future of these plants provided on Friday.

Blume has rejected accusations of withholding information. “We continuously keep our colleagues and employee representatives informed about the status of the plans—through internal channels, but above all through direct personal dialogue,” he said in July in an interview published on the company’s website.

Volkswagen is undergoing what is considered to be its largest-ever restructuring, possibly ranging from a further 50,000 job cuts to the carve-out of some divisions.

Blume will address employees at an extraordinary meeting in Wolfsburg on Tuesday and Thomas Schmall, head of components and a member of the management board, will speak in Braunschweig.

The works council called the meetings in July after employee representatives criticised the management’s communication over plans to improve the automaker’s competitiveness.

(Reporting by Maria MartinezEditing by Tomasz Janowski)