The head of the works council at VW criticized the head of the group clearly.
(Photo: imago images / Lackovic)
Dusseldorf New dispute between employee representatives and CEO Herbert Diess at Volkswagen: Works council chairman Daniela Cavallo accuses the chairman of the board of “even in this crisis he has neither empathy nor feeling for the situation of the workforce”. The reason is Diess’ announcement that next week, because of an investor trip to the USA, he will not be taking part in the first works meeting for almost two years.
Cavallo spoke of “unprecedented behavior in the history of our group” because Diess preferred US investors to its own workforce. “If the dialogue was important to him, he would have set his priorities differently,” she said. The chairwoman of the works council also spoke of a “provocation”.
This shows that he has no interest in constructive cooperation. “The questions are getting more and more. They could have been answered openly at the works meeting, ”continues Cavallo.
Because of the corona pandemic, there has been no works meeting in Wolfsburg since the beginning of last year. With health regulations relaxed, there should be another meeting for the first time on Thursday next week.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
Because of the ongoing supply crisis for semiconductors, the need for information in the workforce is particularly great, according to the works council. Short-time working is currently standard at VW’s main plant in Wolfsburg. Layers have to be painted regularly because there aren’t enough chips. In Wolfsburg, production has been stopped several times this year for whole weeks.
The workers’ side is particularly angry that Diess announced via the media that it would not take part in the works meeting a few days ago. The works council was not informed directly.
VW boss Diess is planning its own information event
On Tuesday, the dispute about Diess’ participation in the first works meeting after the corona break then escalated further. The reason for this was the company’s announcement that the Chairman of the Board of Management would hold its own staff information event on Thursday evening.
“Our employees rightly have questions for Dr. Diess, ”said the chairwoman of the VW works council.
(Photo: dpa)
The group obviously wanted to get the criticism out of the way that Diess does not come to the works meeting. According to the specially developed hygiene concept, 200 employees could take part. All other employees should follow the event online and ask questions via the chat function.
Works council boss Cavallo held against Diess that with this type of information event he was running “personal profiling on the back of the workforce”. The chief executive should send his chief financial officer to the US investors. “Please answer questions from the staff on November 4th,” concluded Cavallo.
Diess had justified his rejection with the fact that the works council had invited to the works meeting at short notice. The company’s travel plans to investors in the US could no longer be changed. The works council rejected this justification.
In the end, the company is responsible for the short-term nature. A works meeting can only take place if the workforce is present on site at the company. With its short-term cancellations due to a lack of chips, the group ensures that the employees are not at the plant.
A spokesman explained that the event on Thursday was about taking the employees along with the modernization of the traditional Wolfsburg plant. He wants to go back to the competition with competitor Tesla, which Diess has raised as a role model in terms of productivity. Diess also wants to answer questions about the chip crisis and the capacity utilization of the main plant.
More: VW plant in Wolfsburg threatens weakest production for decades