19.10.2026 14:43
German automotive giant Volkswagen plans to freeze the salaries of its 660,000 employees worldwide until 2030, implementing a "zero raise" policy and making an additional workforce reduction of 50,000 people. The IG Metall union, stating that this decision will lead to at least a 10 percent loss of purchasing power among employees, announced that it will show fierce resistance against the decision before collective bargaining negotiations starting at the end of November.
It has been revealed that Germany's giant automotive manufacturer Volkswagen (VW) Group plans not to raise the salaries of its approximately 660,000 employees worldwide until 2030. Germany's largest union, IG Metall, announced that company management instructed its human resources departments to freeze salary increases.
SALARIES WILL BE FROZEN UNTIL 2030
In a statement by IG Metall, attention was drawn to the message sent to workers by the Volkswagen European and World Works Council. It was stated that company management gave a directive to preserve current collective agreement wage levels and suspend all salary increases. It was stated that due to this new directive, which was reported to have entered into force at the beginning of October, employees could face a loss of purchasing power of at least 10 percent under the "zero raise" policy to be applied until 2030.
STRONG RESISTANCE SIGNAL FROM WORKER REPRESENTATIVES
IG Metall, which described Volkswagen management's move as "unrealistic," announced that it would show strong resistance to the plan. Emphasizing that structural problems in the automotive and metal sectors cannot be solved with wage cuts, the union drew attention to the fact that personnel costs have a very low share in total sales costs.
NEGOTIATIONS BEGIN AT THE END OF NOVEMBER
While VW Group employs more than 660,000 people worldwide, it has approximately 275,000 employees across Germany. Of these employees, 130,000 are directly covered by the company's collective labor agreement.
IG Metall demands a 7 percent salary increase for Volkswagen employees as well as for approximately 3.7 million workers employed in the country's metal and electrical industry. Stating that company management has not yet presented its official demands, union officials reported that the "zero raise" plan is a clear indication of how difficult future negotiations will be.
VW, which is going through the largest restructuring process in its history, is expected to begin negotiations for a new collective labor agreement at the end of November. These negotiations will directly affect general agreements for the metal and electrical engineering sector, including group subsidiaries such as Audi, MAN, and Porsche.
50,000 JOB CUTS AND UNCERTAINTY AT FACTORIES
About a month ago, Volkswagen management terminated existing collective labor agreements and aims to reduce another 50,000 jobs worldwide in the coming years in addition to existing reduction plans across the group. While the details of these cutback programs continue to be negotiated with worker representatives, the future of the company's factories in Emden, Hannover, and Zwickau and Audi's Neckarsulm facility after 2031-2034 remains uncertain.