Volkswagen may cut up to 20,000 jobs

Volkswagen may cut up to 20,000 jobs in the next three years at its core VW brand in a sweeping restructuring program that could also lead to a reduction in production capacity, it said on Friday.

“In the next three years up to 20,000 direct and indirect employees within the Volkswagen Passenger Car brand could be affected by this restructuring program,” the company said in a statement.

Chief Executive Bernd Pischetsrieder told reporters later though he had no plans to shut any plants or cancel VW’s in-house wage agreement that protects the 100,000 highly-paid workers at its six western German plants from layoffs through the end of 2011.

The carmaker has already promised to make thousands of German jobs redundant, but only through early retirement and voluntary termination packages that could lead to hundreds of millions in restructuring costs.

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