Legal proceedings brought against Porsche Holding SE by the Volkswagen works council have been postponed from 13 February to 29 April.
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The council is calling for improved representation for Volkswagen workers on the board of Porsche. The board is made of 12 members of which six would be workers representatives. If Porsche were to take over Volkswagen and raise its stake from the current 31% to over 50%, three would be Porsche workers’ representatives and three would represent Volkswagen workers.
The council has objected to the fact that VW and Porsche workers would be equally represented, even though VW employs many more workers than Porsche. Furthermore, with the current planned representation, Volkswagen workers would have no power of veto over major decisions such as where to locate production. This is a right that they have had in the past.
According to dpa-AFX, Porsche and the VW works council had been close to reaching an agreement before the issue went to court, and Porsche is reportedly keen to avoid court it possible. VW works council chief Bernd Osterloh was considering withdrawing his complaint if the two parties could reach a settlement.
The current Porsche SE Holding works council is headed by Uwe Hück. It has 20 members, of which 15 are from Porsche AG and its German subsidiaries. There are no VW workers on the Porsche council at present.
