Volkswagen rejects IG Metall's 5% pay demand as incompatible with current conditions
The rejection lands the same day Volkswagen moved to terminate multiple collective labour agreements and management, IG Metall and the works council were due to meet in Hanover
Published
Volkswagen says a 5% pay rise demand from IG Metall is incompatible with current conditions. The company has not offered a counter figure.
IG Metall has already signaled it will fight rather than negotiate over the broader restructuring push, so the public rejection of the wage demand adds another point of friction ahead of further talks rather than opening a new front.
The dispute is unfolding as Volkswagen absorbs a cut to its margin guidance, to a 1% operating return on sales, and a fresh hit tied to a UK compensation scheme for mis-sold motor loans that its financial arm will have to cover. Those pressures, alongside the moves to terminate collective deals, leave the company with less financial room to concede on pay. The wage fight is compounding on top of an already strained cost and credit position rather than resolving it.