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27 August, 2001German carmaker will hire and train 3,500 workers in Wolfsburg and possibly a further 1,500 in Hanover.
GERMANY: In a statement issued yesterday, August 28, 2001, the president of IG Metall, Klaus Zwickel, declared that the agreement reached in negotiations between the German metalworkers' union and Volkswagen during the night of August 27-28 "is a success for the union".
IG Metall's demands to adjust the original project of VW - called "5,000 times 5,000" (see website news item of August 2, 2001) - to the existing standards of the 35-hour week and wages in the regional agreement have been met. At the same time, the new agreement contains new elements for collective bargaining and qualification in the organisation of work.
VW's new mini-van model, to be built in its giant assembly plant in Wolfsburg, Germany, where the company is based, is "an important signal for the creation of jobs," said Zwickel, "and for the competitiveness of Germany as a production site, contrary to all legends about the supposed 'unattractive' wages and working conditions in Germany."
The negotiations between IG Metall and VW management, which broke down in June over union objections to the company's proposed terms, had resumed on August 27.
IG Metall's demands to adjust the original project of VW - called "5,000 times 5,000" (see website news item of August 2, 2001) - to the existing standards of the 35-hour week and wages in the regional agreement have been met. At the same time, the new agreement contains new elements for collective bargaining and qualification in the organisation of work.
VW's new mini-van model, to be built in its giant assembly plant in Wolfsburg, Germany, where the company is based, is "an important signal for the creation of jobs," said Zwickel, "and for the competitiveness of Germany as a production site, contrary to all legends about the supposed 'unattractive' wages and working conditions in Germany."
The negotiations between IG Metall and VW management, which broke down in June over union objections to the company's proposed terms, had resumed on August 27.