Volkswagen has reached a wage accord for around 3,800 staff who work for its Auto 5000 division, which makes the Touran van, according to a news agency report.
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Reuters said the deal runs until 1 April, 2007 and calls for an annual 3% pay rise as of a July plus a one-off payment of EUR310 for the months of April, May and June. It also increases profit-sharing for staff.
The IG Metall union had been seeking a 5% pay rise, the news agency noted.
Reuters added that Volkswagen has said it wants to use Auto 5000 as a model for compensating its much larger and more expensive VW work force.
Under the outgoing pay accord, Auto 5000 staff earned nearly EUR2,600 a month and worked up to 42 hours a week. Staff employed under the standard VW in-house wage deal earn the same amount but work 28.8 hours a week.
Working hours at Auto 5000 were made even more flexible in the new contract to allow for the construction of a new compact sport utility vehicle that the company has allocated to the division, Reuters added.
Volkswagen is trying to extend the work week for its regular VW staff to 35 hours at no extra pay, but staff are resisting this, the report said. VW has said that up to 20,000 jobs at its six plants in loss-making western German operations are at risk unless it can reduce labour costs, the highest in the global car industry.
IG Metall plans to present its own plan in early July, according to the report.
