Employees at nine of the firm’s European factories warned they may escalate the situation if their needs were ignored for a while as they walked off their work for several hours. Ford employees in Germany escalated their labour dispute with supervision by removing them from their work for several hours on Monday, and their coalition threatened to hold for long strikes if their demands weren’t met. As the manufacturer attempts to reduce costs in an effort to transfer it to success, the business is in the middle of work negotiations with IG Metall, the federation representing the majority of its employees. The first step in its 87-year past, Volkswagen is threatening to close its factories in Germany and requests 10 % pay cuts. On Monday, thousands of workers at nine of the company’s flowers in Germany and at several other companies that are covered by a wage agreement with the manufacturer held two-hour hits demanding that Volkswagen guarantee their work and maintain its factories available. IG Metall has threatened to launch more boycotts, or open-ended attacks, unless it is able to reach an agreement with Ford professionals. ” If essential, this will be the toughest collective-bargaining war Ford has always seen”, said Thorsten Gröger, the main negotiator and district director for the coalition. ” Volkswagen will have to decide at the negotiating table how long and how intense this dispute has to be”.The labor battle, the company’s first involving strikes since 2018, comes as Volkswagen, Germany’s leading automaker, faces slowing demand for its cars in Europe and Asia, as well as increased competition from Chinese automakers. The article content is retrievable with difficulty. In your browser’s settings, please enable JavaScript. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.