VW pays more wages and a corona bonus

In the fifth round of negotiations with the union, the car manufacturer Volkswagen agreed on a collective agreement for its around 120,000 employees. Employees will therefore receive 2.3 percent more wages and salaries from January, plus a one-time Corona bonus in June. IG Metall negotiator Thorsten Gröger spoke of tough and difficult negotiation rounds, in which some significant resistance had to be overcome. VW chief negotiator Arne Meiswinkel said that a deal had been reached with a sense of proportion and common sense, "which does justice to the particularly challenging environment since the beginning of the pandemic". The agreement runs for 23 months until the end of November 2022. For the current year, VW employees at the six West German VW plants in Wolfsburg, Braunschweig, Salzgitter, Hanover, Emden and Kassel will receive a bonus of EUR 1,000, plus a one-time bonus of EUR 150 Euros for company pension schemes. The collective agreement of the metal and electrical industry applies to the East German plants. There is a significant change in the performance-oriented payment at the car manufacturer: This will no longer apply and will be converted into a standard amount of 150 euros per month from May. So far, according to IG Metall, this sum has been between 100 and 150 euros. VW works council chief Bernd Osterloh said that the main reason for the change was that the board and management were no longer paid according to performance. He emphasized that employee appraisals are still important.