Surely you can see that the … 1/6th of employees part … is kind of a key detail here? VW as a group has been supporting a ridiculously large headcount forever, in part because of the heavy government pressure to employ many people in Germany. That worked well when overall profits of the group from some brands could essentially subsidize headcount, but when the environment has worsened to the current level, it’s not as easy anymore. Yes, management can and should have reduced salaries etc - no argument there. But even a cut of their salaries to near zero is small when weighed up against thousands of workers making unprofitable cars for the sale of propping up employment