Volkswagen is poised to slash jobs in its facilities in the United States along with its factories in Europe and other countries. According to its top labor official in Germany, the company's final decision will depend on how much fine will be slapped on it by the U.S. Justice Department for manipulating the diesel emission tests of VW cars.
The German carmaker was sued by the U.S Justice Department for as much as US$46 billion for violating the country's environmental laws. There is also no possible fix to almost 600,000 vehicles affected almost six months since the manipulation was exposed.
A report also revealed that many VW managers and staff concerned with emission problems in the department of engine-development knew the test "defect devices" are being developed. This was revealed by the company's internal investigation according to Sueddeutsche Zeitung, a German newspaper.
According to Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the deception was revealed by a whistleblower who himself was involved, when in 2011, he informed a VW senior manager not connected with the department, who did not react.
The German newspaper stated that there is a culture of secrecy within that department. It added that a big group of employees discussed the installation of "defect" software to fool diesel-emission test as early as 2006.
But a spokesman for Volkswagen refused to comment saying this was mere speculation and the matter is still under investigation.
According to Bernd Osterloh, Volkswagen's chairman of works council, the extent to which the company will be forced to slash jobs to ensure they can meet the costs of the scandal depends "decisively" on the amount of fines.
He made these statements on a meeting on Tuesday in Wolfsburg, Germany, which was attended by workers and some of the carmaker's top managers.
"Should the future viability of Volkswagen be endangered by an unprecedented financial penalty, this will have dramatic social consequences," said Osterloh. He is also a member of VW's supervisory board composed of 20 members.
