In the run-up to the decisive emergency meeting of Volkswagen’s supervisory board on September 4, new leaks in the media indicate that more than the 50,000 jobs said to be axed by the company’s management plans are at stake. Internal supervisory board discussions speak of between 100,000 and 120,000 jobs.
The entrenched positions between the management, the works council, and the Lower Saxony government as the leading shareholder have lowered expectations for an acceptable solution. Prior to the last supervisory board meeting in July, reports still mentioned as many as 100,000—and in some cases even 120,000—jobs that could be eliminated across the group this decade. In addition to the already announced figure of 50,000, another 25,000 must be added, if one looks at a recent remark by VW CEO Oliver Blume: “From today’s perspective, about half of the necessary adjustments will be in Germany.”
