There’s more than enough money to meet our demands for a record contract'

[@electricviking]

Click here to get a free charger and installation when pre-ordering the G6 xpeng.com.au/?qr=726XPO The best solar company in Australia just installed my new solar system. Check them out here: www.resinc.com.au/electricviking

[@sajithchannadathu7902]

They are digging their own Graves .................................

[@FutureSystem738]

Lost the plot. Look what happened to the Australian car industry, and the UK car industry. Bye bye VW.

[@bofomalsi4146]

I think German car industry is like the banks "too big to fail". The EU taxpayers will come to their resque. Like today we have to supply Germany with electricity because of their stupid decisions to close their nuclear power. Electricity prices all over Europe are sky high thank,'s to Germany importing electricity from other EU countries, and people in exporting countries are totally mad about this.

[@user-cw1lr9rk7r]

Bye bye workers

[@FutureSystem738]

@ Sad that it’s all coming to this, but blame it all on appalling management decisions over many years.

[@bryanmurphy3328]

Spot on.

[@AllDogsAreGoodDogs]

They're cutting their own throats. I'm pro-labor, but the demand has dissapatèd.

[@jamesfederer5592]

VW has an overcapacity issue😅

[@jgarbo3541]

OC=low sales= bad cars.

[@user-nh1yb9mk7y]

20% fall in car sales in Europe. From 15 mln to 11 mln

[@ISuperTed]

Yep, lost the Chinese market, losing the Western markets. Pockets of VW are okay, but the whole thing has to slim down or there will be a catastrophic implosion.

[@aeropro7558]

I worked in the car industry 15 years ago and was part of a toxic union. Only a small minority voted for more money and the rest of us were bullied to comply. We all eventually lost our jobs....this is exactly what's happening here.

[@Kleberei]

Really? What cars? What union?

[@hkfoo3333]

They are lucky to still have jobs

[@patmcdaniel2016]

Not for very long though.

[@Ijumpedoffacliffonce]

I thought VW wanted the workers to take a pay cut, not a pay rise...

[@ISuperTed]

When they close their factories (which they will if this goes on), there won’t be any pay to rise/cut.

[@Spock105]

Pay them more = even more higher prices of VW cars = less sales = closures = stupidity .

[@monobryn64]

Wages aren’t Volkswagens problem. The fact that they spend four times as many work hours to produce a worse car is.

[@keyzervega]

How much is going to share holders and to level execs

[@FATHEROFTHREEKIDS]

Google BL

[@williamjones7821]

THANK YOU for this video ! Stellantis / CDJR settled a USA strike a year or two ago with HEFTY pay increases, and 40 hours of pay for only 32 hours of work. And they wonder why nobody is buying the "HUNDRED GRAND WAGONEER" which shifts the gearbox into reverse at random times for no reason. And now the UAW has a foothold at that Volkswagen plant in Tennessee.

[@mukamuka0]

Reject it at their own peril, I've no sympathy for both of them

[@horsebee1]

Interesting how those car makers who's workforces are unionized are in major trouble both in Germany and the USA. It was also strong unions that put the final nail in the coffin of the British auto industry in the 1970's. The real irony is that the most profitable auto maker in both Germany and the USA is not unionized, has fort against unions both from management and the workforce and that is Tesla. Just maybe there is a lesson here.

[@larryc1616]

Unions have nothing to do with Tesla's success. It was the EV revolution he jumped on first plus government subsidies and California subsidies, liberal buyers and California high tech brains.

[@bryanmurphy3328]

Perhaps the main lesson is make what the public want. If you deep dive into Tesla's profit, though, they don't make much on Auto's. They are by far one of the most innovative companies in history and deserve success. However, Tesla's cash cow is large scale batteries where there is much need and large profits.

[@erik....]

Are you saying Tesla is paying their workforce less than others?

[@grahamf695]

@@erik....their manufacturing is certainly more automated, meaning fewer workers are needed.

[@youxkio]

That's exactly my opinion, too. At the beginning of the video, I thought you were defending the Unions. It is true that labor rights have been dismissed. However, in the automotive industry, robotization and automation have been delivering better efficiency and returns to the corporations that early started to do it. China and Tesla are good examples. Legacy corporations now have a humanitarian problem at hand.

[@user-pt1ow8hx5l]

And water turbines to make. And other electricity generating devises. To propel their electric cars!

[@badenfleming2365]

One word “Holden”

[@keangwooichoo6138]

Dead as hell

[@Suburp212]

Yep. Gone and buried.

[@ABa-os6wm]

We call it "opel"

[@alanchow5465]

We call it Vauxhall

[@bryanmurphy3328]

All are former divisions of GM. Holden, Vauxhall and Opel. How long before GM itself will be history now that its China cash cow is no longer supporting the companies bottom line ?.

[@frankcoffey]

OK, how about if we just go bankrupt, would that make you happy?

[@RussellFineArt]

The chief officers need to take massive pay cuts first.

[@monobryn64]

Volkswagen is profitable, so a bankruptcy isn’t really imminent.

[@gikigill788]

Maybe VW shouldn't have done share buybacks worth 10s of billions and invested in its future cars.

[@TGWazoo1]

“Buy backs” are a meme.

[@gikigill788]

@TGWazoo1 They are a reality. But then again you don't live in objective reality so everything is a meme to you. Ask Boeing how that buyback of $70 billion is working out for them. They could have built 3 new clean sheet aircraft for that amount including a 737 successor but seems like they had other priorities. Boeing CEO admitted that a brand new plane is a moonshot. An aircraft manufacturer considers building a new aircraft, their literal job, a tough ask.

[@williamjones7821]

When I worked at Amazon, one of my co-workers had worked for the union supplier that made frames for the Ford Explorer SUV. They went on strike over a tiny increase in health insurance costs. That supplier built a non-union plant in Tennessee and refused to hire any of the old union members. Ford immediately started buying all their Explorer frames from the new Tennessee plant. In the short run, unions can get their members more money. In the long run, either management will respond, or high-priced products will put whole companies out of business.

[@Jace-yt2zm]

Bargaining themselves right out of their jobs. Brilliant!

[@kng128]

I don’t understand how any profit exists when there’s $190 billion in debt on their books. Could someone explain this to me?

[@larryc1616]

Toyota has the same debt too

[@darthkek1953]

Yes. You have income and you have expenses. The difference between the two is profit. In the expenses is not the entirety of the debut but the SERVICING of it. The trouble is the servicing is going up...

[@jurgen9568]

They are paying the interest on it, they are not paying down the principal. Sometimes this makes sense because you have a better place to put the money, like an investment. Sometimes it makes sense because the debt is structured so that paying down the principal faster than agreed results in fines.

[@CengizTheBand]

Because VW paid all the profit they were making to the share holders as dividends for years. And if they want to spend money for the business, they got loans from banks. That’s the reason of the debt.

[@darthkek1953]

@@CengizTheBand the point of investment is to get a return, so they should have been paying dividends to shareholders. The loans have come from the emissions scandals and trying to move to EVs, a pair of disasters.

[@Suburp212]

There is more than enough debt to terminate the entire VW labor force. Why does nobody realise that?

[@larryc1616]

When VW goes bankrupt, they have no more debt to pay back.

[@ABa-os6wm]

Because german state us the biggest shareholder.

[@ISuperTed]

Oh dear oh dear. It’s playing out exactly as Herbert Diess said it would. I feel sorry for the workers in a way - they are in a bubble and are ignorant of the world market. All this is doing is hastening VW’s inevitable demise and splitting up with brand sales and more factory closures.

[@RussellFineArt]

It is sad that workers have to continually plead for higher wages while corporate officers quietly giving themselves hundreds of millions, and even billions, of dollars in raises. For some reason, it’s always the workers fault when they ask for higher wages, and the companies suffer, and it’s always the workers who get let go first. VW is clearly suffering but, the chief officers need to take massive pay cuts first, before asking the workers to as it’s largely the corporate officers’ fault for the dumb decisions.

[@larryc1616]

Trickle down doesn't work?

[@lifeisneverthesame910]

zero salary zero bonus

[@OMAR-vu4hw]

Agreed. I say good on the union for not settling for a shitty deal. And I can guarantee that the union has a research department that fact checks the company finances with scrutiny, not relying on the stupid mainstream media reports or 2nd rate KZbinrs pretending to be media.

[@daweigo6851]

Even sader if company they work for closes down...and they have nothing

[@daweigo6851]

​@@OMAR-vu4hwno profit, no company, it's that simple.

[@junaidisalam5718]

bring back manufacturing? cut the crabpp.. anyone in the U S willing to be paid $ 8 an hour to do hard labor job?

[@mbak7801]

No but robots get no pay. Entire factories are now lights out. So bring back manufacturing but expect no jobs. No One job. A guard dog and a man to feed it.

[@antiguarocks]

When VW goes belly up everyone will have plenty of time on their hands to argue about who is to blame.

[@SimonParrot-o5l]

They must be being paid off by VW rivals. Crazy!

[@bigmark3449]

They deserve to go bust, everyone is greedy and that doesn't work. Unions will destroy the motor industry.

[@ronnyb9416]

If the Union members in the US or the EU do not realize that VW is in very serious trouble, perhaps VW should let them go on strike. VW has too many vehicles sitting in storage lots anyway. Why not save all that paycheck money? VW may be in trouble, but they can certainly last longer than the workers who likely live paycheck to paycheck. They can sell the cars in the lots until the workers come to their senses and agree to more reasonable demands.

[@erik....]

Who would buy a car from a company that is on hold? The 8 year battery warranty is in risk of being useless.

[@fatdoi003]

when there's no money, there's no money..... salary is part of profit share

[@erik....]

Salary is an expense.

[@eugenec7130]

100% import tariffs are super effective! They make the workers arrogant and demand for unreasonable pay rises. Car prices will go up and be forever uncompetitive.

[@buixote]

There *are* "labor friendly" economists... Maybe you should get one on the Show... Dean Baker, Michael Hudson, Richard Wolff, etc..

[@glike2]

The German government will side with the corporations, not doing tariffs to protect the German corporations factories in China, i.e. Chinese jobs.

[@siddheshshivraj3534]

D U M B In times of no sales demanding a pay rise 😅 This is called privilege and not necessity.

[@softwarephil1709]

Ok, no raise… and you’re fired.

[@bluelithium9808]

Management/owners have mismanaged their product portfolio and continue to rake in the cash.

[@steveinoz8188]

The Union would like the same pay rises as has been had by the VW board.

[@jvolstad]

People are tapped out!

[@keyzervega]

Go for it. The high level managers are getting lots of money. The shareholders are getting lots

[@jerromedrakejr9332]

You must not touch the income of the shareholders... if you reduce their income, they will start selling their shares, which will cause an avalanche reaction and a very quick collapse of VW... Do not touch the one to whom you are attached by infusion and who enables you to survive in a moment like this...

[@barneyklingenberg4078]

Oh dear this company is done. When Nintendo was in similar situation with the WiiU. The CEO took a 50% paycut and he asked his workers for 10%. And promised everyone kept their jobs and that they would get through. They made the switch an big commercial success and it was reversed back to normal. Company was saved.

[@gilesfitzherbert7725]

R.I.P. VW

[@colinwp8285]

Sam, VW total debt end of September was more at $218Bn as per its finanical report, but as your chart states, "Total Debt On The Balance Sheet". What is not know is the value of 'Off Balance Sheet Lending". I suspect they could be way More indebted.

[@nakatanakata2665]

In order to survive they have to cut 20 percent of the personnel and cut the divident and maybe use some government bailout. And improve their quality.

[@donwinston]

Seems like there is quite a disconnect between VW workers and the management in the US. I thought VW was near extinction. There is no way you can or should stop automation. Workers will have to do something else. I'm a "lefty" but even I have accepted the fact that unions are dinosaurs. Keeping corporations in check must be done by the government and not by unions.

[@erik....]

In the US, maybe, but in Europe unions are essential. For example here in Sweden there isn't even a minimum wage, it's all negotiated by the unions. And it's still working.

[@marlan5470]

I expect the smarter ones to already have a nice villa in Southern Europe to retire to.

[@jimwoods9551]

I’ve rarely met a stupid union official. What they say and what they believe are often completely different, especially when it comes to job security. The march of legacy automakers to Armageddon is a replay of the Great British motor industry implosion.

[@Truegp25]

Hey Electric Viking, Volkswagens debt comes from their financing department, so its not a big deal as the cars are the insureance for the debt they give for their own products to their own customers. Same goes for Toyot etc, they do their own Vehicle Finances for their own products.

[@CombatSport777]

What portion of their debt is due to financing vehicles vs just borrowing money to do things like build factories or upgrade equipment?

[@Truegp25]

@ 280 Billion Euro is the Debt carried by their financing sector 86 Billion Euro is the Long Term debt that VW carries

[@jjamespacbell]

It's not just the workers and wages straining legacy auto companies, stock buybacks, dividends, and massive executive bonuses not based on performance also drive value out of these companies.

[@pamelashonestopinions3535]

Well in the previous video it was disclosed that the top executive level are still earning their millions--- thats where the money would be coming from.

[@barrycrosby8602]

Sounds reminiscent of British Leyland in the 1970s, making huge losses with products no one wants and militant unions demanding huge pay rises and as everyone knows that didn't end well

[@LILEE376]

I think in the near future more and more automakers would join Stellantis like conglomerates.

[@leonardoatx3]

Industries owned by the worker thrive

[@stormytempest6521]

Get what you can now, your going to need it later on.

[@darrylrichman]

All those ancillary demands - health care, PTO, etc. - are all things the German workers are already getting because such things are mandated of every employer in Germany. The workers in the US need a higher pay raise because they have to pay for things like that out of their own pocket.

[@davidpickard9393]

Profit sharing will not cost VW anything 😂

[@EdwinaTS]

An arbitrar should come in and get the sums right. It is ridiculous to negotiate based on false information. And very importantly, governments should have taken a major initiative towards adjusting to abundance as automation turn our world of scarcity to one of abundance. That is the job of government that is long overdue!

[@grahamf695]

Manufacturers such as Hyundai/Kia will (continue to) build new factories in the US with much more automated manufacturing. They will build much cheaper cars, putting further pressure on the legacy automakers. As you say, this will not end well.

[@kennethcriscola]

Upper management needs that extra money for holiday bonuses

[@niklasfritzell6465]

14% is bad? Allright...

[@CombatSport777]

14% over 4 years isn’t even keeping up with inflation in America.

[@Wallaby99b]

Best just shut the factory

[@Tilten]

Vikings don’t get sunburned in the middle of the winter!

[@VictorGallagherCarvings]

The problem is the unions see the writing on the wall. Within 5 years many manufacturing jobs will become jobs for robots. So they are trying to create a situation where the companies must keep them on the payroll. A situation like that can''t hold very long before the auto maker collapses from competition from outsiders with an automated workforce.

[@spadress]

Maybe they should stop paying billions of dividends first, before asking workers to accept pay cuts

[@ldnwholesale8552]

No investors no company. Simple economics.

[@hadtobe4502]

Using robots at the moment = 1 car per 4 hours.

[@rdknght17]

they are done. they will ship production overseas. at least in the US they can just go to Mexico and get minimum tariffs and have cheaper labor.

[@davids.6671]

Reducing in staff dont happen. Whats correct: jobs with low qualification requierments are dieing, whereas high qualified jobs run into a bottleneck. Robot lines dont build and maintain theireself. Netherless. Nearly no goverment is pumping billions into education. Education is key for a good life ...

[@jlevace]

Seems in most industries, That have been around for 40+ Years, They get Slower, Less efficient, The Workers think they are safe etc etc. All Civil Servants, All of the NHS, DVLA, one of the worst cases, But Oddly watching this Vid, seems German Car workers too, they are moving like PENSIONERS,, Noi Disrespect to fit ones meant,

[@sds7870]

3.5% a year thhat's not a big payrise.

[@mikeshafer]

I’m not sure if many of these legacy automakers will survive the future. They didn’t see the rise of EVs, they aren’t pivoting well into that new world, and if they fail to that, they will be dead within a decade.

[@ldnwholesale8552]

VW invested heavily in EVs and they are very slow sellers. There is the issue.

[@Pimpernicholas]

Yogi Berra: Bailouts all over again!

[@nateforward9984]

The UAW under Fain has gotten too aggressive. They need to work with the employer or that raise is going to come on the backs of laid off coworkers. It also might scare off companies that potentially want to build a factory in the region. (I wish that wasn’t true.) -they were making some pretty absurd demands last summer. 32 hour work week. 😔

[@metrotrujillo]

they have to be agressive, otherwise your generation will continue to live with their parents,

[@nateforward9984]

I’ve spent a long time in manufacturing. It’s really difficult to be a union member because those jobs can just go anywhere in the world. Now that global shipping prices are relatively cheap. You can try to tell management how to run the company, but it’s not gonna work very well. The consumer wants the best possible product at the lowest possible price and they don’t care about your job.

[@nateforward9984]

@@metrotrujillo don’t get me wrong, I want the best for those workers. But I wouldn’t play management’s hand when your company is in 1:16 a bind. Especially when they’re talking about shutting entire operations down. Going on strike mean the factory gets shut down completely.

[@steak5599]

@@nateforward9984 But they are ignoring how Investors think. For example, if you have a Billion Dollar, you can put it in the S&P index fund and collect like 10-15% return. Or you can build a Car factory, hire 5000 people, and try to sell cars. If building a Factory and hire a lot of people is more head ache and no profit compare to just shut down the factory and throw your money in Index Fund, or even buy Bonds that pays 5%, no one would build a factory.

[@Guinnessisgoodforyou]

Better to take a little wage cut and keep your job than stick your head in the sand and ignore what’s going on around you and in the end loose your job when the company shuts down and plant🤔

[@bru512]

The unions work to oppose the company's progress There is no hope Moving on

[@larryc1616]

The companies work to oppose a living wage for union workers.

[@GenRicOpekc]

Is the U.S. VW plant making more cars and profits?

[@stevePsutton]

VW need a "plausible" reason to bankrupt part/all of the dying legacy company. Having removed the debts, resurface as a new/rebranded/ partnered company

[@jpmackin]

Profit sharing……🤣

[@bryanmurphy3328]

This is a game of Russian roulette. In this game, you can only dodge a bullet for so long before it's all over in a flash. You will not see it coming. The future lies in changing the game, and in doing something different, not doing more of the same and expecting a different result.

[@steak5599]

You brought up a good Psycology about the Russian Roulette, though. Is a Gambler Mentality, you always bet on winning until you lose it all, is not a very common logic, and every human have this problem to certain extend.

[@larryc1616]

Kodak! Nokia! Blockbuster!

[@bryanmurphy3328]

@@steak5599 We agree. Like all gambling, the real losers are the families and society.

[@bryanmurphy3328]

@@larryc1616 I would add to that list the once unique and strong Australian car industry.

[@dejavumagazine]

Did you look in the mirror this morning?😂

[@rdknght17]

unions... always working themselves out of a job

[@JonathanEvans-l7d]

the emolyees are mad vw is doomed

[@pctong5387]

VW bye

[@hendrx]

✅ Ban cheap energy ✅ Shut down nuclear power ✅ Protest away consequences

[@PedroNord]

Hilarious !!

[@lincolnteh1963]

They should protest their politicians who are the root cause.

[@GenRicOpekc]

Your hair is getting taller.

[@davidwestwater2219]

No body wants evs😅

[@EthanZoid]

VW is terrible anyway 😂

[@jonasreyes8557]

Are these guys living on a different planet? VW is struggling financially with no clear path forward towards financial stability. Giving in to their demands will bring VW closer to bankruptcy. With the fast adoption of EVs, their jobs are fast losing value.

[@johnfife3062]

I believe that VW is cooking the books with their profit reports -- these slim "profits" are what's left after the bigwigs at VW and Porsche siphon off $1M a week in dividends. Nonetheless, I agree that this won't end well.

[@scottmcshannon6821]

why did they give a pay raise? just fire them and go out of business. both sides are totally inept. the union is trying so hard to make their jobs go away and VW is stupid enough to give it to them. the amount of stupidity on both sides is unbelievable.

[@metrotrujillo]

and you are the king everyone bow to you

[@ColinFox]

You can't just fire them, for 2 reasons. First, they're in a union, so you don't get to do that. Second, in Germany, you have labor on the board of directors, and they wouldn't vote for that, so you're double screwed.

[@daniellee8720]

Sack them all? 😂😂

[@steak5599]

I think you are incorrect that Americans believe UAW. Most Americans really don't care about the UAW. We don't hate them, but we don't support them either.

[@codacoda565]

They're going to pay them. They make enough money people don't understand the company is greedy. They're not sharing with their employees. That's why they're doing this

[@ColinFox]

In 2023 VW paid €4.5 Billion to the shareholders. That sounds like a lot, but they also employ 684,025 people. If you spread that dividend money among the employees instead of the shareholders, they would only get €6,578.71 each. That's for a year. That's not much of a raise, and that's all the surplus profits VW was distributing. That means if the union is asking for more than €6k per year, they're now paying more than they have.

[@IbrahimKone-ix4qi]

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[@SandrineKouassir]

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[@SandrineKouassir]

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[@BensonTati]

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[@IbrahimKone-ix4qi]

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[@hellomeatrobots]

Automakers did rake in record profits since 2020. Pay your workers.

[@moonbox3381]

Dump VW workers if they play hardball VW go bankrupt who is the biggest looser ???????

[@autoselectricos-americalat9276]

It's very OK if VW wages for regular workers go down, as long as VW executives get their salaries reduced even more. Also, VW should trim the executive team even more, because they are to blame for most of VW misfortunes.

[@bikesbeersbeats]

more robots means higher value workers.

[@faterrorism]

We are witnessing a legacy automaker going bankrupt for no other reason than they hired a bunch of stupid workers

[@tengsiangong8485]

Better close the plant and invest in China EV company by buying shares or JV, e.g. Nio, Li auto, etc.

[@aikz5]

Unions kept asking for unrealistic pay raises in Australian automakers industry and manufacturers kept up with their blackmailing for sometime. Guess what, there is no more car manufacturing industry in Australia. These workers are played by unions till it’s too late for everyone.