Lay-off: Volkswagen expects five-digit number of job cuts

VW’s works council expects up to 25,000 staff to be cut over the next decade as older workers retire

FRANKFURT: Volkswagen expects the shift to electric cars to cost a five-digit number of jobs in coming years, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper reported, citing the carmaker’s human resources chief.

Karlheinz Blessing, who sits on VW group’s nine-member top management board, said the carmaker will need to cut jobs in production as assembly of electric engines requires fewer workers than making combustion engines, the newspaper said. VW’s works council, currently in talks with VW’s brand management over a turnaround plan for the core VW brand, expects up to 25,000 staff to be cut over the next decade as older workers retire.

Management and labour leaders are seeking to reach agreement on cost cuts and strategy in time for a Nov. 18 meeting of the supervisory board to approve future spending plans.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2016.

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