German union proposes 4-day week to save jobs at Volkswagen

German metalworkers' union IG Metall on Thursday said it is prepared to negotiate with Volkswagen, including on the introduction of a four-day week, after the auto giant announced cost-cutting plans that could threaten thousands of jobs, reported dpa.

"We should leave no stone unturned when it comes to ideas on how we can maintain jobs and locations," the head of the powerful union, Christiane Benner, said in the northern city of Hanover.

Benner said plant closures and redundancies, which Volkswagen said on Monday it could no longer rule out at its core VW brand, are "absolute red lines" for the union.

IG Metall has proposed to bring forward a collective bargaining round due for this autumn, but is yet to receive a response from VW, Benner said.

It also proposed a four-day week for all VW employees, which helped to avert mass layoffs during the company's crisis in the early 1990s, when 30,000 jobs were at risk.

The union's comments come a day after Volkswagen management defended plans to reduce costs at a staff assembly at the company's headquarters in the northern city of Wolfsburg attended by some 25,000 employees.

"We still have a year, maybe two years, to turn things around. But we have to use this time," said the chief financial officer of the Volkswagen Group, Arno Antlitz.