Volkswagen plans global salary freeze for 660,000 staff until 2030

Volkswagen plans to freeze salaries for its 660,000 staff worldwide until 2030, the group’s Global Works Council said on Monday, confirming an earlier report by Sueddeutsche Zeitung citing internal documents.

The works council said it had received internal information about the executive board’s plans, describing the approach as “absurd” and saying implementation was “rather unrealistic” given the strong resistance expected. Bloomberg Law corroborated the report, saying the directive has been in force since the start of October, with HR managers worldwide instructed to plan for no pay increases through 2030.

An IG Metall spokesperson said: “At Volkswagen, pay development is decided at the negotiating table, not by decree from the executive boardroom.” Volkswagen itself declined to comment on “speculation”, pointing instead to a new round of talks later this week as the forum for any labour-cost proposals.

Relations between VW and labour representatives have deteriorated as chief executive Oliver Blume pushes ahead with what Reuters described as the most radical restructuring in the German auto group’s history. Sueddeutsche Zeitung said the freeze could amount to a real-terms loss of around 10 per cent through inflation, and that new global management guidelines effective from the fourth quarter also include cuts to variable pay, special payments, benefits and jobs, as reported in the same Reuters coverage.