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VW is changing working hours: More flexible solutions for Wolfsburg employees!
Wolfsburg: VW is planning new working time regulations and remuneration systems to stabilize production from October 2023.
VW is changing working hours: More flexible solutions for Wolfsburg employees!
There are drastic changes coming at the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg that will affect the entire workforce. As News38 reports, the group is planning a series of measures from October 2023 in order to react more flexibly to the fluctuating order situation. The background is the current crisis in the company, which urgently requires drastic solutions.
A central point of these changes is the abolition of the company collective agreement 1, which was already implemented on July 1, 2023. In the future, the weekly working hours for full-time employees will be set at 35 hours, while team spokespersons will no longer be used. The rules for employees' time accounts are also undergoing a fundamental revision: the previous individual options for recourse are being eliminated and it is expected that the workforce should save up time quotas. These savings are strategically planned to allow for a shift in working hours while the Golf is relocating production to Mexico.
Tariff developments
According to information from [Tarifrunde VW](https://www.tarifrunde-vw.de/fragen Answeren), IG Metall and Volkswagen have already reached agreements on wage developments until the end of 2030. There should be no workforce reductions in the form of compulsory redundancies until this point. However, the wage increases for 2025 and 2026 will be temporarily suspended, which is unlikely to make employees happy. The collective wages and training allowances will be increased by 5.5 percent from January 1, 2031.
Also interesting is the profit sharing rule, which will remain unchanged until 2025, while the May payments will no longer apply in 2026 and 2027. However, training allowances are set to increase by 140 euros from March 1, 2025. The anniversary bonus for 25 and 35 years of service will also be redefined - in the future it will be 6,000 euros and 12,000 euros and will be paid out in the month of the anniversary.
Future perspectives
As IG Metall emphasizes, massive plant closures and mass job cuts were averted. This was the result of intensive negotiations that lasted more than 70 hours. The collective agreement reached not only secures jobs until the end of 2030, but also enables consistent investments in the future of Volkswagen.
A new remuneration system is due to come into force from January 1, 2027, although the details of this will still have to be worked out in the coming years. In this regard, the wages used to calculate future tariff increases will also be reregulated. The path to financial stability remains a key concern, especially given the changes ahead.
Clear goals have been set in the timetable for plant occupancy: Maintaining the products and creating added value are the focus, while the future production locations such as Wolfsburg, Zwickau and Emden were strategically selected in order to be able to optimally meet the challenges of market conditions.
The workforce is facing a time of great change - it remains to be seen what effect the new regulations and collective agreements will have in the long term. The upcoming decisions and measures could determine how Volkswagen can survive in the overall economy.