Breaking a taboo at Volkswagen: MAN board of directors cancels job guarantee - massive wave of layoffs threatens

The Munich-based truck manufacturer MAN is taking radical measures.

With the end of the job guarantee, the group threatens a tough conflict - with far-reaching consequences for the entire VW group.

• The truck manufacturer

  MAN

  wants to cut 9500 jobs.

  In

  Munich

  alone

  , 3,000 jobs could be lost.

• Now the group

  has

  canceled

  the

  job guarantee

  .

  This means that redundancies for operational reasons are also possible.

• Now employees fear that other

  VW

  subsidiaries could also follow suit.

Munich - In the dispute over planned savings at the Munich truck manufacturer

, the new

boss

now taking radical measures.

On Tuesday morning, the

Executive Board of

terminated the existing "location and job security for the time being" effective September 30th.

This means that the

subsidiary

could

also quit employees for operational reasons.

So far, redundancies for operational reasons have been contractually excluded.

The employment and location security contracts in Munich, Nuremberg and Salzgitter, which were only extended in 2018, run until December 31, 2030.

Now the new

boss Andreas Tostmann

wants to

have a free hand.

"In order

to initiate

the planned realignment of

, the company is forced to terminate the corresponding contracts for the locations in Germany and Austria for economic reasons", according to a letter to the employees that Merkur.de * is available.

VW subsidiary sets ultimatum: Agreement by the end of the year

At the same time, the group indirectly gave the works council an

.

Should the employer and employee reach an agreement by the end of the year, "depending on the outcome of the negotiations, the security agreements can be fully or partially put into effect again".

If this does not succeed, “the agreements will expire at the end of the year or in 2021”.

MAN cancels job guarantee - will a wave of layoffs follow?

The announcement is considered a taboo break in the

group. * The car manufacturer is a stronghold of IG Metall.

Hardly anything goes against the powerful works council boss Bernd Osterloh in Wolfsburg.

From

circles it is said that Tostmann is

unlikely to have terminated

the job security "without backing from the

board".

The step could therefore also be an indication of a fundamental realignment in the relationship between the company and employee representatives within the entire Volkswagen Group.

"If the

board now pulls this through, then the employment security contracts with other VW subsidiaries are no longer worth much," said a Munich

employee on Tuesday.

The social partnership that has grown over decades is at stake.

In mid-September,

announced that it would cut a total of 9,500 jobs in Germany and Austria.

This could mean that every second job in both countries could be lost.

The plant in

(Austria) as well as the

(Saxony) and

(Rhineland-Palatinate)

locations

are up for grabs.

At the same time, a comprehensive realignment of the group is emerging.

MAN: Far-reaching conversion plans

After that, the production of heavy trucks and driver's cabs is to be withdrawn from the main plant in Munich and

relocated to

the

in Krakow.

The axle production in

could also be

outsourced

to suppliers.

In Munich alone, 3,000 jobs would be at stake.

A further 1,300 jobs could be lost at the

engine plant in

.

Tostmann also wants to cut another 1,500 jobs in the German service and sales network.

For this purpose, component production is to be

withdrawn

from

and also to move to

.

This would affect a further 1,400 employees.

In view of the plans, the

already announced massive opposition.

"We have no interest in escalation, but also say clearly that we will fight for our rights," said

-Betriebsratschef

.

To this end, Stimoniaris also wants to mobilize employee representatives at group level.

"As a closed employee bank, the rights and interests of our colleagues and our brands in the

Group will be represented," he told Merkur.de * on Tuesday. 

The chairman of the

group works council, Bernd Osterloh,

also firmly

rejected the plans of the

management.

The procedure is "an attack on the entire Volkswagen family," said Osterloh.

“Such an approach will not lead to any success.

Therefore, in the course of the negotiations, we will ensure that the extensive job security comes into force again. "

The general secretary of the Bavarian

,

, also took the

board of directors to court.

"What

currently doing with the termination of location guarantees is a provocation and a slap in the face for a trusting cooperation between employees and employers in difficult times," said Grötsch. 

* Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen digital network.