BERLIN (Reuters) – Carmaker Volkswagen plans to cut up to 4,000 jobs at its plants in Germany by offering early or partial retirement to older employees in a move that could cost several hundred million euros, company sources have said. said yesterday.
Volkwagen said in a statement that it had agreed a plan with the works council to open partial retirement for those born in 1964, while offering early retirement to those born from 1956 to 1960.
Volkswagen said up to 900 employees are expected to opt for early retirement, while a low number in the thousands will opt for partial retirement, without giving an exact figure.
Two sources from the company told Reuters 3,000-4,000 positions would be cut in connection with the program being implemented at the six German plants of the main VW brand, which now employs about 120,000 people.
The newspaper Handelsblatt, which reported on the plan earlier, said the company would cut up to 5,000 jobs.
Volkswagen declined to comment on the cost, which will depend on how many employees accept the offer. One source estimates it at almost 500 million euros ($ 598 million).
As the 83-year-old carmaker is more of a Tesla-based technology company, Volkswagen has said it will increase the training budget by 40 million euros to 200 million.
Volkswagen has said that the leasing of leases will also be extended until the end of 2021. This was previously only applicable until the first quarter. External leasing can only be done in areas such as electric motors, digitization and development of battery cells.
The Volkswagen group said in January that it would reduce overhead costs by 5% and purchase costs by 7% over the next two years.
Reported by Jan Schwartz, written by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Edmund Blair