VW cutting thousands of jobs through early retirement: report

Volkswagen plans to cut as many as 4,000 jobs from its plant in Germany by offering partial retirement to its older employees, sources close to the matter told Reuters.

The sources reportedly said the positions would be cup across the company’s six German manufacturing plants as part of a retirement plan Volkswagen previously announced. The outlet notes that German newspaper Handelsblatt reported earlier that 5,000 jobs would be cut.

Volkswagen said in a statement that it had agreed to a plan with the work council to offer partial retirement to those born in 1964 and early retirement to employees born from 1956 to 1960, according to Reuters. This move will reportedly cost the company several hundreds of millions of euros.

While the car manufacturer declined to comment on the story, one source told Reuters that the program could cost as much as 500 million euros ($598 million).

Volkswagen said it expects as many as 900 employees to take the early retirement offer while a few thousand will go for partial retirement. According to Reuters, the six German plants of the main VW brand current employ 120,000 people.

The car company also said that it would be extending its hiring freeze to the end of 2021 after previously saying the freeze would last until the end of the first quarter.