Rolling strikes hit nine of auto giant Volkswagen's plants across Germany for the second time this month, as the Volkswagen workforce protests painful proposed cuts at Europe's largest carmaker. Monday's strikes ratchet up the pressure on management on the same day that the fourth round of collective bargaining negotiations over pay cuts and threatened factory closures got under way on Monday in Wolfsburg,

Volkswagen's chief negotiator Arne Meiswinkel said on Monday that unions and management needed to find alternative pathways to a solution for its German plants after the company rejected a proposal put forward by unions as unsustainable.

Tens of thousands of Volkswagen workers walked out on Monday in the second round of strikes in an escalating conflict between unions and management over the German carmaker's drastic savings plans.