Volkswagen Takes Job Cuts Off The Table To Quell Labor Unrest

Volkswagen Group sought to defuse mounting tension with labor leaders by agreeing to negotiations to safeguard factories as the automaker faces billions of euros in costs for its emissions-cheating scandal.

VW presented a unified front with management, labor and key shareholders all backing the effort, according to a statement following a meeting of top supervisory board members on Monday.

CEO Matthias Mueller will lead the talks with labor chief Bernd Osterloh, who said last week that Herbert Diess, chief of the VW brand, "lacks reliability."

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PUGPROUD - 4/12/2016 11:28:54 AM

+2 Boost

If VW cannot downsize an already bloated workforce during a crisis where will the savings come from? Reduced R&D, lower dealer margins, cheaper materials, delayed model changes, reduced marketing expenses, etc...all areas that will lead to a further diminish product and consumer confidence. "Oh what a tangled web we weave when we first practice to deceive."...Sir Walter Scott, 1808

USNA1999 - 4/12/2016 12:29:55 PM

+5 Boost

And this is why VW will eventually collapse because its run by the unions. I have purchased VWs before and have been extremely pleased but I really hope they fail so their unions learn. Bunch of selfish SOBs.

carsnyc - 4/12/2016 1:24:46 PM

+3 Boost

USNA, I'm partially with you re. unions but let's be fair and recognize that this time it was the bigger wigs who totally screwed things up. I was such a VW fan as a kid (late 70s/early 80s) and so happy to see Audi come back from the ashes. But what the company represents now not only because of what they intentionally did, but also how they have intentionally responded is disgusting.

MDarringer - 4/12/2016 7:42:00 PM

0 Boost

The blood suckers--oops honorable union leaders--will whine for a government bail out when VW implodes. This is designed--I believe--to set VW up for a bankruptcy implosion and then to shed its debt/liability when it emerges from bankruptcy reorganization much like GM tried to shed its baggage.

MDarringer - 4/13/2016 8:45:13 PM

0 Boost

VW responded with supreme arrogance when Audi got skewered by 60 Minutes for unintended acceleration. Moreover, the raised middle finger VW has had for the US market by not producing relevant product speaks volumes about their arrogance. VW was and is an arrogant company, but they finally have gotten caught in big way.

TomM - 4/12/2016 4:10:13 PM

+4 Boost

Sorry to say - the fact is VW did not sell a lot of cars in the USA - and certainly did not sell a lot of Diesel cars here. For years VW has produced European cars that were particularly unsuited to the US buyer - and they simply have been unable to increase their sales because of it. In europe - where the price of gasoline is way higher than diesel - VW still sells and still has a "german" reputation and they also produce diesels that meet requirements too. So the American Market is not a real "priority" - I doubt they have made money here in the last few years before the problem - and I could see them bankrupting the US company - while going on elswhere. (THat is one option none of the mags have ever considered - but I am sure VW has)