Production resumed on Tuesday at BMW and Volkswagen car plants in western Germany that were shut down last week after strikes for a shorter work week by workers in the east dried up the supply of parts, according to Associated Press (AP).
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The AP report said that BMW plants in Munich, Regensburg and Dingolfing, in the southern state of Bavaria, had to stop making the company’s 3-series model for six days after [gearbox] supplier ZF Getriebe was hit by the selective walkouts organised by the IG Metall union.
The strike, which ended early on Monday, reduced by 1,800 cars a day the number of cars BMW produced, spokeswoman Heike Mueller told Associated Press.
Mueller reportedly could not say what the strike had cost BMW, but added that the company would now examine how to make up for the lost production.
Volkswagen spokesman Peter Schlelein told AP that the car maker had resumed production of its key Golf model at its main plant in the western city of Wolfsburg on Tuesday. VW shut down production on Friday, reducing production by 2,000 cars a day, due to strikes at the Mosel plant in eastern Germany, AP added.
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By GlobalDataAssociated Press said two other eastern Germany VW plants were affected by the strikes – one in Dresden, where the Phaeton luxury car is made, and an engine plant in Chemnitz.
According to the report, the IG Metall union called off the strikes after talks with manufacturing employers broke down over the weekend. With Germany in its third year of economic stagnation, the union’s campaign had attracted public criticism — even among regional union officials, AP noted.
AP said the union was seeking to cut the eastern work week to 35 hours from 38, noting that workers in the formerly communist east have worked the longer hours for the same base pay as workers in the more affluent west because companies in the economically depressed region say they can’t afford more.
The union said it was the first strike it has abandoned since 1954, Associated Press added.
