Volkswagen CEO Proposes 100,000 Job Cuts in Restructuring Plan

Chief Executive Officer Oliver Blume is facing a critical supervisory board meeting this Friday to vote on a sweeping restructuring plan for Volkswagen AG. The proposal seeks to restore profitability by cutting up to 100,000 jobs, reducing production capacity, and potentially closing four factories in Germany.

Blume describes the company's situation as more than critical, attributing the struggle to a mega crisis in the global automotive industry driven by softening demand and competition from Chinese brands. He has noted that the company is often too slow and too complicated because it is outsized.

The plan faces strong opposition from the IG Metall union and the regional government of Lower Saxony, both of whom reject the scale and pace of the proposed cuts. In an attempt to gain leverage, Blume's management team suggested bypassing the supervisory board through an extraordinary shareholder meeting, a move opponents characterize as an attack on Germany's co-determination system. While the Porsche-Piëch family continues to push for faster restructuring, a broad agreement at Friday's meeting remains unlikely, though the board may narrow differences on specific elements of the plan.