4 day week “designed”, will consider all options by Reuters

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s largest union, which sits on the supervisory board of Volkswagen (ETR: ), said on Thursday it would leave no stone unturned in finding alternatives to the carmaker’s threats to close factories, with a four-day week as an option.

The job security agreement, concluded in 1994, was designed specifically to help the carmaker through difficult situations and not be thrown overboard in difficult times, said Thorsten Groeger, head of IG Metall for the Saxony region Lower where Volkswagen is based.

However, the union said it was impossible to present detailed proposals without more information about the solutions the company was proposing, said Christiane Benner, IG Metall’s national president.

“We need advanced ideas about where the potential can be found,” she said. “VW has survived difficult situations before.”