Factory Closures

The day after Volkswagen management, shareholders and unions agreed to cut a total 100,000 jobs over the coming years, automotive workers told AFP Friday they were feeling a mix of fury and disappointment. The German 10-brand group, which includes VW, Skoda, Audi, Seat and Porsche, said late Thursday it would cut an additional 50,000 jobs, bringing total planned reductions to 100,000.

That makes it the largest restructuring programme in global automotive history, exceeding the 50,000 cuts General Motors made after declaring bankruptcy in 2009. Investors have cheered the cuts, seeing them as a sign Volkswagen can cut costs to compete with cheaper Chinese rivals. The carmaker's shares opened up almost 10 percent Friday, topping Germany's bluechip DAX index.

It could all be over

The long-term future of four German plants, in Neckarsulm, Emden, Hannover and Zwickau, is unclear. Management and unions agreed only to seek "alternative uses" for the plants. Lars Bochmann, a 50-year-old who has spent his entire professional life at the Zwickau plant, told AFP that the agreement was "utterly deficient".

"Everyone's going to say, 'Right, I'm not going to invest anything for the time being, because I don't know yet whether any more orders will come in'," said logistics worker Denny Pohl. "In five years' time it could all be over." Martin Lehmann, another lifer at Zwickau, said Volkswagen was more than just an employer: "There's so much passion, so much heart and soul and tradition bound up with these jobs."