Volkswagen's German union demands 8% pay rise for workers

On July 7, according to Gasgoo, Germany's IG Metall union said it asked Volkswagen Group to give workers an 8 percent pay rise amid soaring inflation.

"Inflation is destroying wealth, hitting incomes and putting many households in financial distress," IG Metall negotiator Thorsten Groeger said on July 6, adding that inflation was a "brutal reality".

The IG Metall branch in the German states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt will negotiate the wages of about 125,000 Volkswagen workers across six factories in Germany and subsidiaries including financial services.

In addition, the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles division has resumed production of the ID.Buzz model, which is built at Volkswagen's plant in Hanover, Germany.

At the end of June, the company suspended production of the electric van after Volkswagen discovered a quality problem with the batteries.The shutdown lasted a week, as the company had previously estimated."The Hannover plant has resumed production of the ID. Buzz on July 4 as planned," said a spokesman for Volkswagen's commercial vehicle division.

The spokesman also said that the company has identified and resolved the problem and that new batteries that fully meet the company's quality standards are being shipped to the factory.

According to reports, ID.Buzz production was suspended because some battery modules did not meet the required performance.The defect causes the battery voltage to drop, reducing the vehicle's range and possibly negatively affecting its longevity.The cells in question were supplied by a new supplier, which explains why only the Hannover plant was affected, but not other plants producingelectric vehiclesbased on the MEB platform .VW said it discovered the battery issue during internal testing and that the defect was due to "a production adjustment by the supplier."The issue has since been resolved.