Porsche union workers in Zuffenhausen agree to concessions to produce electric car

Porsche workers have agreed to concessions worth several hundred million euros to secure production of an all-electric sports car at the manufacturer's biggest plant, a company spokesman said. 

The Volkswagen-owned manufacturer said earlier this month it would spend about 1 billion euros ($1.10 billion) at its base in Zuffenhausen, near Stuttgart, and create more than 1,000 jobs there to build the battery-powered Mission E model.

But wage costs of the 13,000 workers employed in Zuffenhausen exceed those at Porsche's other German factory in Leipzig and at a VW plant in Osnabrueck, where Porsche's Cayman and Cayenne models are assembled, a source at Porsche told Reuters.

"Employer and employees have jointly drawn up measures that have led to the decision of producing the Mission E model in Zuffenhausen," a spokesman for Porsche said today, confirming a report byAutomotive News Europe's German sister publication Automobilwoche.

Cost-cutting measures agreed on between workers in Zuffenhausen and management include steps to raise the workweek to 35 hours from 34 and to drop parts of a pay increase between 2016 and 2025, the report said. Porsche declined comment on details of the measures.

Porsche's works council did not return calls seeking comment.

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