VW Plans Global Pay Freeze to 2030 for 660,000 Staff, Works Council Vows Resistance

3-line summary

• Volkswagen's global works council confirmed internal information, backing a Süddeutsche Zeitung report, that new global management guidelines set to take effect in the fourth quarter would freeze base pay through 2030 for about 660,000 employees worldwide, alongside cuts to variable pay, special allowances, benefits, and jobs; the newspaper reported that without wage increases, the affected employees' real income could fall roughly 10% once inflation is factored in.
• The global works council called management's plan 'absurd,' expecting strong resistance and doubting it is even feasible to implement; a spokesperson for the IG Metall union said Volkswagen's wages are not set unilaterally by management but are agreed at the bargaining table.
• The report comes amid friction between management and labor representatives as CEO Oliver Blume pursues what is described as the most radical restructuring in the German automaker's history; a company spokesperson told Reuters that new labor talks later this week would be the appropriate forum to discuss any personnel-cost proposals, with no official company statement on the plan included in the report.

This summary is our own processing of the source article; see the source link below for full context.