Tens of thousands of Volkswagen workers will participate Monday in strikes at plants across Germany, labor union IG Metall said, marking the largest walkouts at the carmaker’s domestic operations since 2018.

The IG Metall trade union has called for widespread labour strikes at all Volkswagen plants in Germany from Monday as workers at the company fight back against possible lay-offs and wage cuts. Production will be "temporarily on hold" at all of the German automotive giant's plants in Germany,

It is an escalation of a dispute between Europe's top carmaker and its workers over mass layoffs, pay cuts and possible plant closures.

IG Metall said its members would down tools for a few hours a day after the auto giant and union leaders failed to agree on how to cut costs.

An agreement not to hold strikes ended on November 30. "Accordingly, strikes are possible and also necessary from the beginning of December," the union said. "Volkswagen will determine at the negotiating table how long and how hard the conflict will be - the VW workforce throughout the country is ready to strike," it added.

Volkswagen has rejected a proposal from labor representatives that they said could avert layoffs and factory closures. VW said it wouldn't have delivered the advertised savings. Strikes loom in the brewing labor dispute.

German Volkswagen employees have reached their limit. They are threatening a warning strike that could potentially escalate into a prolonged protest. On 21 November, after the third round of negotiations with the company's management ended in failure,