Strike at Volkswagen to Continue as Talks Fail Again 

Bratislava, June 22 (TASR) – The strike at Volkswagen Slovakia is set to continue after the trade union and the management failed to find common ground at the 13th round of talks on Thursday, TASR learnt on the same day.

Volkswagen Modern Trade Union (MOV) leader Zoroslav Smolinsky made an announcement to the employees on strike late on Thursday, updating them about the latest proposal made by the plant’s management.

The plant offered to increase the salaries by 4.5 percent as of this month and by another 4.5 percent as of January 2018. In addition, the workers would receive two one-off payments – €350 now and another €200 in August 2018.

“Obviously, we too have had to make concessions to our demand for a 16-percent increase,” said Smolinsky. He added that MOV now demands a pay boost of 8.9 percent as of this month and another 5 percent as of June 2018.

“This was our counter-proposal. This counter-proposal was final, one that we don’t want to make any concessions to. We need you to let us know if you agree to our sticking to our demand or you grant us a mandate to cut it down further,” said Smolinsky. The workers vowed to hold firm to their demands.

The employees went on indefinite strike on Tuesday at 6 a.m.