Four-day week possible VW's Wolfsburg plant
Because Volkswagen will be restructuring its Wolfsburg plant from 2027 to make way for EV-only production, work weeks may temporarily be only four days long.
From 2027, Volkwagen will be restructuring its Wolfbrug plant to change to EV-only production. Works council chief Daniela Cavallo says that unions have agreed on minimum capacity utilisation for the transition period and informed workers about the prospect of the temporary four-day week on Tuesday. She also said that unions had urged workers to take extra shifts in the run-up to compensate for the likelihood of fewer working hours in years from 2027. This was reported on by the news agency Reuters on Tuesday.
“We have to make provisions now so that we can draw on them later. From 2027 onwards, a temporary four-day week is not an unreasonable scenario,” Cavallo said according to Reuters.
Cavallo was a central figure in negotiations with management last year over cost cuts. Volkswagen struck a deal with unions last December to cut costs in Germany. This included moving production of the combustion engine Golf from Wolfsburg to Mexico from 2027. The deal prompted concern among some employees at the carmaker’s headquarters over the future of the plant.
Golf production in decline
However, Cavallo emphasises the necessity for moving the production of the Golf. Golf production globally, most of which was concentrated in Wolfsburg, has declined – from over a million in 2015 to just over 300,000 in 2024, with just 250,000 cars forecast for this year. This was shown by a graph compiled by the works council, reported on by Reuters. This decline in production is due to a steady decline in demand for the combustion engine version of the iconic VW car, as Cavallo explained.
“The trend is an unstoppable decline. The Golf must go to Mexico! Sooner or later. Otherwise, our plant will eventually find itself at the bottom of these statistics I just showed,” Cavallo said, as Reuters reports, according to comments published on the company intranet.
To prevent such a development, the plant plans to produce the electric Golf, as well as a successor to its T-Roc compact SUV, by the end of the decade.
