The warning strikes against Volkswagen's plans to cut wages, close plants, and lay off employees began on Monday and ended early on Tuesday. This industrial action took place at nine German car plants, with 47,000 walking out in Wolfsburg, 12,500 in Kassel, and 9,000 each in Zwickau and Hanover.
"In early December, around 100,000 participants of the warning strike sent a clear signal to the Volkswagen leadership: Future instead of clear-cutting...We will now follow up on December 9 and thus increase the pressure on the company at the negotiating table," the Tagesschau news portal quoted the union's lead negotiator, Thorsten Groger, as saying.
The next round of negotiations between Volkswagen and the unionists is scheduled for December 9.
Volkswagen's works council chief, Daniela Cavallo, announced plans in November to close at least three factories and lay off tens of thousands of workers in Germany in a bid to cut costs. In Germany, the company employs about 120,000 people at 10 factories. Volkswagen Group's CEO Oliver Blume cited Germany's declining competitiveness and rising competition from rivals outside of Europe as the reason for the drastic austerity measures.