But would “VW reaches union deal to not cut jobs or wages. They will instead slowly decrease workerforce by 35000 until 2030 via not replacing workers that retire.” bring the same amount of clicks and attention and outrage? 😉

The headline suggests they didn’t, but they did protect jobs.

The union stopped even more layoffs from happening. They stopped a 10% wage cut, and the jobs that are being cut won’t be immediately cut as planned.

This provides employees more time and more salary to find a new role elsewhere. The unions had to accept the reality of the situation, they would all be out of work if the company folded. They did win much fairer treatment for the employees than they would have had otherwise. They also got more support from the goverment to keep the business running and keep factories open than the business could get alone.

Unions work and this wasn’t an exception. In fact the union probably benefitted the shareholders as they produced an outcome that is more sustainable long term than the business leaders and shareholders would have chosen without the threat of strikes.

They plan to cut those jobs until 2030, without firing workers due to business reasons. The idea is to have workers retire or quit the job and then not hire new workers. VW has 195,000 workers in Germany, so that is possible.