VW Managers Accept Pay Freeze

The management of Volkswagen said it will freeze its salaries until end-2006, after having imposed a similar freeze on 103,000 employees. The decision by Europe's leading car maker was made in agreement with VW's supervisory board, a spokesman told news agencies. "It's the same freeze as for the employees -- 28 months beginning retroactively on October 1, 2004," he said. The company's top executives also will forego any bonus during that period. On Wednesday VW announced that it had struck a deal with the IG Metall union to freeze salaries from October 1, 2004. In return 103,000 workers at six plants in western Germany will receive a one-off €1,000 euro ($1,300) payment in March 2005 and VW will guarantee jobs until 2011.