9:05 am, August 28, 2026
Labour unions at Volkswagen are drawing up their own plans to turn around the struggling German carmaker amid growing anger over the prospect of tens of thousands of job cuts.
More than 10,000 workers gathered at VW’s Wolfsburg headquarters as chief executive Oliver Blume defended a major restructuring of the business, according to The Times.
Blume was booed by some of those attending as he called on employees to support what he described as the biggest transformation programme in Volkswagen’s history.
The proposals could ultimately result in as many as 50,000 jobs being lost, although Blume stressed that figure was a theoretical benchmark based on bringing VW’s costs into line with rivals.
No final decision has been made on factory closures either, with the CEO describing shutting plants as the ‘last and most expensive resort’.
However, the plans have so far failed to secure approval from Volkswagen’s supervisory board, where workers have substantial representation and the German state of Lower Saxony also holds significant influence.
Labour representatives are now preparing rival proposals which are expected to be presented to the supervisory board next week.
Daniela Cavallo, a leading Volkswagen labour representative, said the row had damaged relations between workers and the company’s leadership.
‘Our trust in this company’s executive board, and especially in Oliver Blume, has been damaged,’ she said, according to The Times.
‘Not yet beyond repair, but damaged nonetheless.’
Cavallo also insisted Volkswagen’s German factories remained ‘an integral part’ of the group and reiterated her opposition to plant closures.
The tensions were evident outside the Wolfsburg meeting, where workers carried banners protesting against the prospect of jobs being sacrificed as VW attempts to cut costs.
Blume told staff that the scale of the challenges facing the manufacturer meant the business needed widespread support for its turnaround.
‘Our plan for the future is the largest transformation programme in our company’s history,’ he said.
‘To make this happen, everyone needs to pull together now.’
Volkswagen is battling a combination of intense competition from Chinese manufacturers, declining profitability in China and billions in additional costs from US tariffs.
Those pressures have left the group attempting to tackle excess production capacity and bring down costs across its sprawling manufacturing operation.
Blume has previously raised the prospect of finding alternative uses for underutilised factories rather than closing them completely.
The Times reports that Volkswagen’s Osnabrück factory could potentially be repurposed as a production facility for an Israeli defence company.
Uncertainty also surrounds the future of plants in Emden, Zwickau, Neckarsulm and Hanover as Volkswagen works out how much manufacturing capacity it will need in the years ahead.