VW's MAN truck staff get job guarantee until 2025

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Reuters  /  October 13, 2016

Truckmaker MAN will offer job guarantees to some of its staff until at least 2025, a person familiar with the matter said, as parent company Volkswagen pushes ahead with steps to realign its heavy goods vehicle brands.

Job guarantees will apply to staff at MAN Truck & Bus in Germany and Austria and automatically extend through 2030 if not terminated prior to that date, the person told Reuters on Thursday. MAN has 36,000 workers globally.

Volkswagen (VW) had been seeking to build a global trucks business by integrating the heavy goods vehicle operations of Scania and MAN divisions even before the company's diesel emissions scandal came to light a year ago.

VW last month announced details on how Scania and MAN will in future share development of engines, transmissions, axles and emissions-treatment systems to try to align the two manufacturers more closely to boost profits.

With Thursday's decision, MAN is reassuring workers after restructuring last year culminated in 1,800 job losses in Europe designed to revive languishing profitability and tackle high fixed costs.

Workers at MAN Truck & Bus were scheduled to be briefed about the plans at a staff gathering in Munich later on Thursday, the source said.

VW and MAN Truck & Bus were not immediately available for comment.

Volkswagen's works council chief said on Wednesday the company could cut up to 25,000 staff over the next decade as older workers retire to help the carmaker achieve cost-cuts needed to revive the VW brand.