According to the works council, between 1000 and 1500 additional workers will support the production switch from combustion to electric cars at the Volkswagen plant in Emden from April onwards. This was decided by the board of the car company last Monday, said the VW works council chairman in Emden, Manfred Wulff, on Thursday at a press conference of IG Metall. By the beginning of the factory holiday at the end of July, they want to have the additional forces, for example from temporary and temporary work, on the lines. “Then we’ll start ramping up the electric world,” Wulff said.
Starting this spring, Volkswagen plans to build the ID.4 electric compact SUV in Emden in addition to combustion models. The start of production, which is announced for March, is postponed somewhat, according to the works council. “But stay in the spring of this year,” said Wulff.
Temporary workers will be reinstated
The Emden works council had previously repeatedly emphasized that many helping hands were needed for the conversion of production. Only when and where they should come from was open. Due to the lack of semiconductors, the group had not extended 145 jobs of temporary workers at the end of last year, which the works council criticized.
They are now to be the first to be hired again, limited to two years, said Wulff, referring to a corresponding agreement with the VW Group. “They are hired for a limited period of time with all the rights and obligations of a VW worker.” IG Metall informed some of the 145 temporary workers about the re-entry offer on Thursday evening.
No more short-time working planned from March
To what extent, in addition to temporary and temporary workers, who are to be hired via the VW subsidiary Autovision, VW employees from other plants, such as the headquarters in Wolfsburg, could temporarily move to East Frisia, the works council left open. A decision on this will be made solely in Wolfsburg, it said. Volkswagen currently employs around 9,000 people in Emden.
The works council also reported a stabilization in the supply chains in the semiconductor supply. “It’s not what we need, because the order books are still packed. We could do much, much more.” However, the situation is better than in the previous year. After a total of 76 closing days in Emden due to short-time work in 2021 and nine further short-time working days until the end of February, the plant will manage without short-time work from March, according to Wulff.
Nevertheless, the number of vehicles produced has been adjusted for this year in view of the continuing lack of computer chips. Around 200,000 cars are to roll off the assembly line in Emden in 2022, of which about 70,000 are electric cars, Wulff said. Actually, the completion of a total of around 260,000 vehicles was planned for this year. (dpa/swi)
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