Volkswagen workers hold strikes over proposed pay cuts and factory closures

The rolling walkouts are a common tactic in Germany (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)

Volkswagen workers have launched rolling two-hour strikes at nine factories across Germany to underline their resistance to pay cuts and factory closures the company says are necessary to cope with a slack European car market.

The stoppages included the company’s base plant at Wolfsburg, where workers are due to rally against a cost-cutting drive by the carmaker’s management in which they face the threat of Volkswagen’s first factory closures in its home country.