IndustriAll Europe strongly condemns VW management’s unilateral decision to terminate ten foundational collective agreements. This unprecedented attack on workers and social partnership comes at a time when robust social dialogue has never been more important. We stand in solidarity with IG Metall and the affected workers in their fight against this historic attack.

“We are shocked and outraged by VW management’s attempt to dismantle core elements of the company’s long-standing social partnership model. It is unacceptable that management is abandoning its commitments. The cancellation of ten out of roughly a dozen core collective agreements will have massive implications for more than 100,000 workers in Germany. These include the crucial framework agreement (Manteltarifvertrag), which regulates basic working conditions such as working hours and annual leave,” said Judith Kirton-Darling, General Secretary of industriAll Europe.

“We stand in solidarity with IG Metall and strongly support their fight against this unilateral attack. Management’s attitude is completely unacceptable and shows that it has forgotten the meaning of mutually respectful social partnership. Together with our 200 affiliates across Europe, we are ready to support our members in resisting this attempt to facilitate layoffs and weaken working conditions,” added Isabelle Barthès, Deputy General Secretary of industriAll Europe.

VW management’s attack shows once again why workers and their trade unions are saying loud and clear: ‘Enough is Enough’. Our campaign shows that between 2012 and 2025, the seven major European automakers, including the Volkswagen Group, made €469 billion in combined net profit. Over the same period, these companies distributed €189 billion of these profits to shareholders through dividends or spent them on share buybacks. At the end of 2025, they collectively held €177 billion in cash and short-term investments.

The pressure from shareholders to maintain record returns seems never-ending, even as Europe’s entire automotive supply chain faces significant geopolitical challenges that will require action at national and European level. Workers are not the problem; shareholders’ greed is.

“Workers have had enough! This new attack from VW is not only unprecedented in scale, but also unjustified, and shows that management has forgotten the basic principles of social partnership.

" We call on management to consider the disastrous consequences of its actions. Social partnership relies on mutual trust and respectful negotiations. Once that trust is broken, it is very hard to rebuild. One thing is sure, the European trade union family is united against this attack,” concluded Kirton-Darling and Barthès.