BERLIN (AP) — Volkswagen has informed employee representatives that it wants to close at least three plants in Germany, the head of the company’s works council said Monday.

The head of the employees’ council, Daniela Cavallo, said at a meeting with Volkswagen workers at the company’s Wolfsburg headquarters that management was also planning cuts at other locations and pledged to resist the plans, German news agency dpa reported. She said that “all German VW plants are affected by these plans. None are safe.”

There was no immediate comment from the company.

Volkswagen said in early September that headwinds in the auto industry meant it could not rule out closing factories in its home country and had to abandon a job protection pledge in place since 1994 that would have prevented layoffs until in 2029. CEO Oliver Blume cited new competitors entering European markets, Germany’s deteriorating position as a manufacturing location and the need to “act decisively”.

European automakers are facing increased competition from cheap Chinese electric cars. Volkswagen said last month that the company’s half-year results indicated it would miss its target of 10 billion euros ($10.8 billion) in cost savings by 2026.

Volkswagen employs about 120,000 people in Germany, where it has 10 plants – six of them in the northern state of Lower Saxony, including Wolfsburg.

Industrial union IG Metall has strongly criticized VW’s reported closure plans. “We expect that instead of downsizing fantasies, sustainable concepts for the future will be outlined by Volkswagen and its management at the negotiating table,” regional union leader Thorsten Gröger said.

Wage negotiations between Volkswagen and the union are due to resume on Wednesday.