Lower Saxony's head of government and VW supervisory board member Stephan Weil brings the four-day week into play in the discussion about savings at Volkswagen.

Three decades ago, the car manufacturer had already been in a severe crisis in which the burden had been shared appropriately between all those involved, said Weil (SPD) on NDR radio on Thursday. "In the end, something like that could be the basis for reaching an agreement again this time." VW introduced the four-day week in 1993 during a sales crisis to prevent the loss of 30,000 jobs. It was not until 2006 that the car manufacturer returned to the five-day week.

Volkswagen has announced that it is considering compulsory redundancies and plant closures in Germany in order to cut costs in the face of impending losses in its core brand. The works council is resolutely resisting and accuses the management of serious mistakes.

Lower Saxony holds 20 percent of the voting rights in VW and has two members on the supervisory board. For the SPD-led government, maintaining the VW sites is a priority, but it must also support the economic interests of the company. "At Volkswagen, there was a good rule that success was shared appropriately among those involved. This was true in good times, but there have always been other times in the company's history," said Weil.

(Report by Ilona Wissenbach, edited by Myria Mildenberger. If you have any queries, please contact the editorial team at frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com)