Volkswagen announced Thursday that it wants to cut up to 100,000 jobs and close four factories in Germany. Within hours, the metalworkers' union organized protests at 18 company sites across the country, sending a clear signal: they will not accept this plan without a fight.

Chief Executive Oliver Blume's plan targets factories in Hanover, Emden, Zwickau, and Audi's Neckarsulm site. About 50,000 of the job losses would come directly from closing these four plants. Add in 50,000 job cuts already agreed to earlier, and the total could reach 150,000 positions across the Volkswagen group Reuters. Volkswagen currently employs more than 650,000 people worldwide.

The union leader, Christiane Benner, told protesters that management created this crisis through its own mistakes. "Blume cannot pass the buck for failures of recent years on to the workforce," she said The Guardian.

Here is where German law enters the picture. In the 1960s, Germany created a special law to protect Volkswagen from hostile takeovers. That law, called the Volkswagen Act, requires a two-thirds vote from the company's supervisory board to close certain protected factories. It is like a lock that management cannot open alone—labor has to turn the key too.

VW's board has 20 seats. Workers and shareholders are supposed to split them evenly. But right now, only 19 seats are filled. That means workers' representatives have 10 seats and shareholders have 9. The workers hold a majority before any special voting rules even apply The Guardian.

Two of the factories Blume wants to close are protected by the law: Hanover and Emden. Without worker approval, these two plants cannot be shut down. The other two—Zwickau and Neckarsulm—are not protected by the law, so management can close them on its own.

This creates an unusual situation. Blume can move ahead with two closures without permission, but the other two are effectively blocked unless the union agrees. That may explain why those two unprotected plants became part of his plan—they could be leverage in negotiations.

VW is also considering separating its main brand division and technology business from the rest of the company. The company has not yet said when or how this would happen.

News of these plans leaked to reporters on June 26, weeks before the board meeting Thursday. This gave the union time to organize and prepare. In May, the same union had already protested at another VW-owned company over separate job cuts, showing its ability to mobilize quickly.

The union is particularly angry because in 2024—just two years ago—Volkswagen promised not to close any German factories France24. Now the company wants to break that promise. Volkswagen says the plan is necessary to save money and stay competitive, but workers see it as the company breaking its word.

The broader stakes are high. Germany's auto industry depends on Volkswagen. If VW cuts jobs, the smaller companies that supply parts to VW will also suffer. On July 8, Germany's auto trade group warned that the whole sector could face an employment crisis.

What happens next depends partly on law and partly on negotiation. German law gives workers real power at the board level. This is not just politics—it is built into how German companies operate. Blume's proposal appears designed around this reality. He may be betting that the two factories he can close without permission will give him enough bargaining chips to reach a deal. Whether that leads to compromise or years of fighting remains unclear, but one thing is certain: workers in Germany have legal tools to push back that workers in many other countries do not.