By james art Works council chief Daniela Cavallo told a meeting with Volkswagen workers at the firm’s Wolfsburg headquarters that management was also planning layoffs at other sites and vowed to oppose the plans, German news agency dpa reported.
She said that “all German VW plants are affected by these plans. No one is safe”.
The company did not elaborate on its plans, but chief personnel officer Gunnar Kilian said in a statement that “it is a fact that the situation is serious and the responsibility of the negotiating partners is enormous,” DPA reported.
Volkswagen said in early September that headwinds in the auto industry meant it could not rule out closing plants in its home country and had to abandon a pledge to protect jobs that has been in place since 1994, which would ban layoffs until 2029.
Chief executive Oliver Blume cited new competitors entering European markets, Germany’s deteriorating position as a manufacturing location and the need to “act decisively”.
“Without comprehensive measures to restore competitiveness, we will not be able to afford significant future investment,” Mr Killian said.
He added that management will adhere to the principle of discussing Volkswagen’s future first with internal negotiating partners.
Wage talks between Volkswagen and the union are due to resume on Wednesday.
European carmakers are facing increasing competition from cheap Chinese electric cars. Volkswagen said last month that the company’s half-year results showed it would miss its target of 10 billion euros (£8.32 billion) in cost savings by 2026.
Volkswagen has about 120,000 employees in Germany, where it has 10 plants – six of them in the northern state of Lower Saxony, including Wolfsburg.
Industrial union IG Metall has sharply criticized VW’s reported plans for closures.
“We expect that instead of fantasizing about layoffs, sustainable concepts for the future will be outlined by Volkswagen and its management at the negotiating table,” said regional union leader Torsten Groger.