On 20 December 2024, after more than seventy hours of talks, Volkswagen and the IG Metall union reached an agreement. ZDF called it the longest negotiating marathon in the company’s history. More than 35,000 jobs were to go by 2030, but in a socially acceptable way, without compulsory redundancies. Employees gave up pay increases. The head of the works council, Daniela Cavallo, listed what the workforce had gained, and ended with this: nicht zuletzt die Gewissheit für den Vorstand, dass bei Volkswagen Veränderungen gegen den Willen der Belegschaft zum Scheitern verurteilt sind. (Not least, the certainty for the board that at Volkswagen, changes against the will of the workforce are doomed to fail.)