STORY: Workers at nine Volkswagen plants across Germany brought production to a standstill on Monday (). They went on strike for several hours in an intensifying standoff over wages and the future of the carmaker's operations.

Volkswagen's CEO and labour boss clashed during a staff meeting on Wednesday, with management pushing for major cuts while workers warned of more strikes if plant closures remain part of wage negotiations at the embattled German automaker.

The head of  Volkswagen’s works council Daniela Cavallo has made it clear that the IG Metall union and the works council do not want to fight but “let off steam”.