At a works council meeting in Wolfsburg yesterday (18 September), works council chief, Bernd Osteloh, said that proposals for co-determination in the structure of the new Porsche Holding SE were a “slap in the face” for Volkswagen employees, and represent a major threat to the security of German plants and jobs.
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Volkswagen AG chief executive Martin Winterkorn told dpa-AFX news that he hoped that the two parties would enter into a discussion and come to an agreement as soon as possible.
The Volkswagen works council registered a complaint with a labour court in Stuttgart on Monday that would block the registration of the proposed Porsche Automobil-Holding SE.
That structure envisions a supervisory board with six employee representatives out of a total of 12, but even if Porsche increases its stake in Volkswagen to 50%, Volkswagen employees would fill just three of those places, while Porsche employees would fill the other three positions.
Volkswagen’s works council objects to this on the basis that it represents 324,000 workers, while Porsche has just 12,000 workers.
According to the Handelsblatt newspaper, the court has set a date for a hearing of 24 October. Experts quoted in the report suggested that the court is unlikely to have much influence in the matter.
The German press agency said the works council has been seeking a meeting with Porsche chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking for some weeks.
The council has the backing of Lower Saxony’s president, Christian Wulff. He told a Hannover paper that, if Porsche did increase its stake to more than 50%, the works council should make sure that workers continue to be fully represented.
Wulff sits on the Volkswagen supervisory board as Lower Saxony is the second largest shareholder in Volkswagen with 20% of the shares.
