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germany's largest trade union ig metall has pledged to explore various options, including a four-day work week, in response to volkswagen ag's plans to close factories and scrap job protection agreements, reuters reported.

negotiations between ig metall and volkswagen are expected to begin in mid-to-late october, while the strike could begin in late november. thorsten gröger, chief negotiator at ig metall, said the union is urging volkswagen to bring forward the negotiation time to avoid leaving workers in a state of fear and worry for a long time.

thorsten gröger added that if volkswagen group does not engage in constructive negotiations, more than 500,000 workers may go on strike. however, ig metall said there would be no strikes before the end of november and it still hoped to find a negotiated solution.

while ig metall is sticking to its demand for a 7 percent pay rise in the auto industry, when asked if the union would consider a four-day work week as an alternative, ig metall germany president christiane benner said it was "feasible" and the union would spare no effort to explore various options.

however, christiane benner added that the union could not outline its proposals in detail without knowing the solution for volkswagen group. "we need forward-looking ideas to identify potential opportunities. volkswagen group has gone through difficult times before and successfully got through them."

volkswagen group declined to comment on the reports about the four-day work week.

the german state of lower saxony is volkswagen's second-largest shareholder and holds two of the 20 seats on the company's supervisory board.

lower saxony state premier stephan weil told german broadcaster ndr that the state currently has five factories protected by job guarantees (out of a total of six in germany) and that volkswagen must find a way to share the crisis fairly.

thorsten groeger, head of ig metall in lower saxony, said agreements reached between volkswagen and unions in previous crises were tailored to help the company through difficult times and should not be abandoned in this one.

in 1993, as part of another cost-cutting initiative, volkswagen group board member peter hartz reached an agreement with the unions and the works council to introduce a four-day work week of 28.8 hours from 1994, a 20% reduction in working hours and a smaller reduction in wages.

the two-year agreement was widely seen as an innovative model designed to save 30,000 jobs at six volkswagen plants in germany and remained in place for several years until it was abandoned in 2006 by volkswagen management, who considered it to be a threat to its competitiveness.

the group is facing a number of daunting challenges, including slowing demand for cars, especially electric vehicles, increasing competition from china and what some investors and analysts call a "complex group governance structure" that slows down decision-making in times of crisis.

last year, volkswagen produced about 9 million vehicles, compared with a total capacity of 14 million. the volkswagen brand's profit margin fell to 2.3% in the first half of this year, compared with 3.8% in the same period last year. as logistics, energy and labor costs rise, it has become more difficult to improve the volkswagen brand's return rate.