Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, November 27, 1993                   TAG: 9311270067
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BERLIN                                LENGTH: Medium

VOLKSWAGEN SAID FRIDAY AN INDEPENDENT AUDITOR

But General Motors Corp.'s Adam Opel subsidiary called the report a cover-up maneuver. And government prosecutors are continuing to examine the case.

The dispute stems from the defection of GM's purchasing chief, Jose Ignacio Lopez de Arriortua, to VW last spring. GM said Lopez and several other GM employees took secret GM documents when they left that were then used to make purchasing and cost-cutting decisions at VW.

VW has admitted that some GM documents were at one time in its possession, and its supervisory board asked the auditors KMPG Deutsche Treuhand to examine the matter.

It said Friday the auditors found "no indications that secret data from other automobile manufacturers had any influence" on decisions Lopez made at VW.

David Herman, chairman of GM German subsidiary Adam Opel, called the VW move an "undignified cover-up maneuver" and called on VW to release the entire audit to the public.

The report came a day after VW said it had reached agreements with trade unions to implement a four-day work week at its factories, a plan intended to save $1 billion a year in wages, beginning in 1994.

Company officials said the plan, which constitutes a 20 percent reduction in working hours for VW's 100,000 employees, was envisioned for an initial period of two years.

The accord came after marathon negotiations with representatives of Germany's largest trade union, IG Metall. The deal will help stem the automaker's losses, which, in the first nine months of 1993, totaled more than $900 million.

Had the talks failed, VW said, it would have been forced to lay off an estimated 30,000 employees.

The VW accord reduces the employee work week from 36 hours to 28.8 hours. However, through a series of benefit trade-offs, including giving up extra vacation perks and future wage increases, the immediate drop in wages is expected to be about 10 percent.