Volkswagen is planning to place 80,000 of its workers in Germany on shorter hours in anticipation of the coronavirus pandemic causing an economic downturn.
Originally reported by Focus magazine and later picked up by Reuters, the motoring giant will only put workers in its home country on shorter hours as the German government is required to supplement reduced worker salaries under local laws.
The carmaker will allegedly put the measures in place within the coming days and plans to return back to regular hours on 3rd April. That said, the coronavirus is sweeping across Europe and the rest of the world at a rapid rate, so VW may be forced to place workers on shorter hours for longer.
VW has already suspended production across all of its facilities in Europe, with manufacturing not scheduled to ramp up again for another week. The same measures have been applied to other members of the VW group, including Audi and Lamborghini.
“Most of our factories close for two weeks these days, in some regions for three”, said Herbert Diess, VW chief executive, in a LinkedIn post. “It is likely that the measures will take longer. The spread of the virus is unlikely to have stopped in several weeks. So we have to be prepared to live with the threat for a long time.”
Keyword: Volkswagen to introduce shorter working hours for 80,000 staff in Germany