Volkswagen Stakeholder Collaboration on Restructuring
State Premier Olaf Lies, who also sits on Volkswagen’s supervisory board alongside the owner families and labour representatives, addressed staff at the Hanover plant, one of five facilities in Lower Saxony facing possible closure. Lies emphasized that Lower Saxony is an “automotive country” and must remain so, urging all stakeholders to work together on solutions to protect the region’s industry.
CEO Oliver Blume used the forum to outline his restructuring plan, stating that an additional 50,000 jobs need to be eliminated to restore competitiveness. This figure is on top of 50,000 jobs already agreed across the Volkswagen Group. Blume linked the need for cuts to intense competition from Chinese manufacturers and billions of dollars in U.S. tariff costs that the group must absorb.
Works council chief Daniela Cavallo, representing the German workforce on the supervisory board, acknowledged the scale of the challenge but reiterated her opposition to any plant closures or compulsory redundancies. She stressed the importance of finding joint solutions while protecting employees.
The supervisory board has already blocked key elements of Blume’s restructuring proposal. It is scheduled to reconvene on 4 September to further deliberate the plan, according to sources familiar with the matter.
These developments mark the first opportunity for staff to directly question Blume about the restructuring agenda, as the series of workers’ assemblies this week provides a platform for dialogue between management, labour and state representatives.