BERLIN (AP) – The head of Volkswagen’s employee council said Tuesday he hopes that American authorities will consider the potential fallout on jobs in the U.S. and beyond as they mull what fines to impose on the company over its emissions-rigging scandal.
The cost to Volkswagen of the scandal that erupted in September remains unclear. In January, the Justice Department sued it over the emissions-cheating software found in hundreds of thousands of vehicles sold in the United States, potentially exposing VW to billions of dollars in penalties for clean air violations.
The company and its executives could also still face separate criminal charges, while a raft of private class-action lawsuits filed by angry VW owners are pending.
“If Volkswagen’s sustainability is endangered by a penalty of a so-far unique size, this will also have dramatic social consequences – not just at our U.S. locations, but also in Europe and elsewhere,” the company’s influential employee council chief, Bernd Osterloh, told a workers’ assembly at VW’s Wolfsburg headquarters.
“We very much hope that U.S. authorities also ultimately have this social and employment dimension in view,” he added, news agency dpa reported.