The leader of Volkswagen’s works council, Bernd Osterloh, has criticised Porsche for opposing legislation that would protect worker influence.
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“What started out as a fusion of two of Germany’s biggest industrial firms is slowly turning into a hostile takeover,” said Osterloh.
According to Bloomberg, he was commenting on Porsche’s opposition to a new Volkswagen Law that is currently going through the German parliament. Last year the European Court of Justice ruled the existing Volkswagen Law, limiting shareholders’ voting rights to 20% as illegal. The new law being put forward by Justice Minister, Brigitte Zypries, would replace the old law, but retain a ‘blocking minority’ on major decisions for a shareholder with a 20% holding. In other German companies investors would have to hold a 25% share to have a similar right.
Porsche chairman says the new draft of the new VW Law breaches the EU court decision.
Bloomberg reported that yesterday Osterloh challenged Wiedeking to turn Porsche into a ‘normal company’ by selling voting shares through the stock exchange. The company currently only sells non-voting shares.
