Workers at nine Volkswagen car and component plants across Germany started two-hour strikes on Monday, bringing assembly lines to a halt as labour and management clash over the future of Europe's biggest carmaker.

Workers at Volkswagen plants across Germany walked off the job in waves on Monday for temporary work stoppages, marking the start of nationwide strikes against the German auto giant. About 66,000 VW employees - more than half of VW's factory workforce in Germany - joined the strikes,

Workers at nine of the automaker’s German factories walked off their jobs for several hours, and warned they would escalate the action if their demands went unmet.