Volkswagen will take on an additional 50,000 workers worldwide, taking its global workforce to around 450,000 in the medium term, the company’s personnel director Horst Neumann told the German financial daily Handelsblatt.

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The expanded workforce will include between 5,000-6,000 in Germany by 2015, said Neumann who noted that the company, currently negotiating a major contract with German unions including IG Metall, will also have to replace 60,000 workers over the next five years.

Neumann is quoted as saying that VW wants to rely less on temporary workers.

IG Metall has renewed calls for pay rises after agreeing to sacrifices to keep job security after the slump of 2009. VW and other German carmakers have already shortened the Christmas break to maintain production during the holiday period.

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