Volkswagen plans major layoffs, to shut at least three German plants, works council head says

Volkswagen plans to shut at least three factories in Germany, lay off tens of thousands of staff and permanently shrink its remaining plants in Europe's biggest economy as the continent's top carmaker is plotting a deeper-than-expected overhaul, the works council head said on Monday. "Management is absolutely serious about all this. This is not sabre-rattling in the collective bargaining round," Daniela Cavallo, Volkswagen's works council head, told several hundreds of employees in Wolfsburg.

"This is the plan of Germany's largest industrial group to start the sell-off in its home country of Germany."