Volkswagen wants to introduce a unified German pay structure and needs labour concessions if it is to build the Golf at its main plant in Germany, officials have told a newspaper.

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Reuters noted that VW wants to move to a 35-hour work week at its six loss-making western German plants but labour leaders have said they are not prepared to give up the current 28.8-hour week without more pay for staff.


In an interview with the Handelsblatt paper published on Wednesday, VW personnel director Klaus Neumann said a hodgepodge of wage accords at the company was hindering flexibility because workers feared transfers would leave them worse off, according to Reuters.


“I think we need a new, unified in-house accord. The goal is (to adopt) the sector-wide wage agreement plus a profit-sharing component. That has proven itself at other carmakers,” he was quoted as saying.


VW brand chief Wolfgang Bernhard reportedly said in the same interview that the company could not afford to go on paying staff in western Germany EUR55 an hour when German rivals paid EUR 40 and workers in eastern Europe earned EUR5-10.

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“In the long term it is completely hopeless to carry on with these costs,” he said, adding that the company needed wage deal decisions now to be able to plan properly for future products.


According to Reuters, he suggested that a lack of labour flexibility would endanger prospects for building the next Golf model at VW’s main plant in Wolfsburg.


“We want to keep building the car in Wolfsburg, but that is not conceivable under current economic conditions. We cannot move forward without a clear improvement, in labour costs as well,” he said, according to the report.