German automaker Volkswagen announced Thursday that it plans to eliminate a total of 100,000 jobs by the end of the decade, marking what is expected to be the largest restructuring in the history of the global auto industry.
Management and trade unions have agreed to reduce the company’s workforce by another 50,000 positions, on top of 50,000 job cuts already approved. The reductions will affect roughly 15% of Volkswagen’s global workforce.
“It is essential to systematically align workforce levels with economic realities,” Volkswagen Group said in a statement.
The restructuring covers the wider Volkswagen Group, which includes the Volkswagen brand as well as Audi and Porsche. The scale of the planned cuts surpasses the 50,000 jobs General Motors eliminated after filing for bankruptcy in 2009.
The agreement follows months of tension between Volkswagen management and labor representatives. Unions had accused company executives of failing to be transparent with employees after reports emerged that as many as 100,000 positions could ultimately be eliminated before the figure had been officially communicated to the workforce.
