Spain: Volkswagen says no job cuts on Spanish production sites

Since the head office announced a restructuring plan that would affect 20 000 employees, the social climate in the group’s Spanish companies is very bad. Because of the Seat subsidiary company whose net losses amount to 62, 51 million euros in 2005, and because of declining competitiveness, Spanish sites have seen their production drop for a few years. The announcement of the plan, last February, worried the Spanish employees of the group so much that the Minister of Industry, José Montilla, came on the production sites to talk to them. Even though the management of the group ensured him that Spanish establishments remain "a good bet", the future remains uncertain.