Volkswagen to layoff 30,000 people in 5 years

Volkswagen, German automaker and its labour unions have agreed to layoff 30,000 people over the next five years at its VW brand. The aim of cutting the jobs is part of a plan to boost profitability and to provide funding for electric and self-driven cars post the disastrous carbon-emission scandal. 

Europe's largest auto manufacturing company is trying to increase savings in its home-country, where costs are high. Volkswagen also has to shell out billions of euros in payments for the cleanup related to its carbon emission scandal, Reuters reported.

The company is expected to make the announcement later during the day during a press conference, which would take place at the company's headquarters in Wolfsburg. The unanimous decision of going ahead with job cuts follows eight months of intense negotiations and the works council and the trade union.

Sources quoted by the news agency said the labour union leaders have agreed to the job cuts on a prior managment's pledge to create new jobs and the VW's investment in electronic cars (mainly at factories in Germany). The firm also plans to create additional 9,000 jobs by investing in electric car technology. 

According to a previous report in German newspaper Handelsblatt, about 30,000 jobs would be axed by 2020 in a bid to save about 4 billion euros. It also said that Volkswagen would cut 10,000 jobs outside Germany (focusing in North and South America).