2024-09-11 02:39:39
After the threat of factory closures: Left Party leader Janine Wissler demands that shareholders pay back billions in dividends to secure jobs.
In view of the threat of factory closures and layoffs at Volkswagen, Janine Wissler, the party leader of the Left Party, has sharply criticized the company’s shareholders. In an interview with the “Rheinische Post” newspaper, Wissler demanded the repayment of billions in dividends that VW had recently paid out. “It is unbelievably shabby that Volkswagen paid out 4.5 billion euros to shareholders and now claims that it cannot raise five billion euros to save jobs,” said Wissler. Major shareholders such as the Porsche-Piëch clan in particular should be held accountable.
Wissler presented a four-point plan to secure jobs in the automotive industry. This includes, among other things, a state training guarantee for employees and the promotion of the production of electric cars as well as modern trains and buses.
At the same time, she called for greater financial involvement of corporations and shareholders in the necessary restructuring of the industry. If there is no other option, said Wissler, expropriations and state participation would also have to be considered.
In the crisis surrounding VW, the CDU parliamentary group in the Lower Saxony state parliament demanded that the Ministry of Economic Affairs provide information quickly. “Many people are unsettled,” said the CDU parliamentary group’s economic policy spokesman, Marcel Scharrelmann, in the Economic Affairs Committee. “It is therefore a matter of urgency for us to ensure that comprehensive information is provided very, very quickly.”
The SPD parliamentary group can “support the urgency of the matter,” said deputy parliamentary group leader Christoph Bratmann. Economics Minister Olaf Lies (SPD) has announced that he will be available at short notice. A special meeting of the committee on the current situation at VW is planned for Tuesday.