VW Workers Face Mass Layoffs as Cem Ince Warns of Strike Action

Volkswagen's management has terminated ten collective bargaining agreements and is threatening social cutbacks, prompting fears of industrial action. Cem Ince, a Linke Bundestag member and VW worker, comes from a working-class family: his grandfather and father both worked at the Salzgitter AG blast furnace before his father moved to VW. Ince trained at Volkswagen as an electronics technician for automation technology, worked in assembly, and retrained internally as a software developer. He joined IG Metall and became a shop steward and youth and apprentice representative. Now a Bundestag deputy for the Left party, Ince warns that if VW believes it can blackmail employees, the company should prepare for consequences. The article, published by Freitag and authored by Hanna Israel, describes eerie silence in the halls and existential fear on the assembly line as the works council and unions weigh their response to the board's decision to sever ties with the workforce.