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VW logo in Wolfsburg
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Julian Stratenschulte / dpa
After complaints from several VW employees, the Braunschweig labor court found deficiencies in the course of the last works council election at the main plant in Wolfsburg and declared it invalid for the time being.
"The challenge to the election was successful," said the court at the request of the German Press Agency.
From the vote in March, the IG Metall list with works council chief Daniela Cavallo emerged as the winner by a wide margin.
According to a court spokesman, a total of nine applicants had complained about the handling of postal voting, among other things.
For example, the priority of presence voting over postal voting was violated.
According to the court, the handling of postal vote returns was also criticized.
The members of alternative lists also saw irregularities with regard to election posters: From their point of view, destruction and pasting over had not been effectively prevented.
The decision is not yet legally binding, within one month an appeal can be lodged with the Lower Saxony State Labor Court in Hanover.
According to its own statement, the incumbent works council now wants to do the same.
He spoke of a surprising decision by the Chamber, which was taken note of.
Works council wants to go to the next instance
The written justification must be awaited in detail, it said from the employee representatives.
“Regardless of this, it is already clear: the works council will go to the next instance to have the current decision reviewed by the state labor court.” The reasons given in Braunschweig for why the vote should be contestable are not convincing.
The ongoing legal dispute does not change the fact that the new works council will remain in office.
"All his actions and decisions are effective."
In the evening, the company emphasized in a similar way that the current mandate holders will continue to be appointed until a final decision is made: “It is important that the election is not “void”.
We will evaluate the reasons for the decision after receipt and then seek clarification before the regional or federal labor court.«
Cavallo had officially stood up for the IG Metall, which has traditionally been very influential at Volkswagen, for the first time as the top candidate for the works council in the main plant, after the committees had initially only temporarily and internally appointed her as the successor to Bernd Osterloh in 2021.
She also sits on the executive committee of the VW supervisory board, where all fundamental decisions on corporate strategy are made.
Criticism of the management style of some trade unionists
After the count in March, the union had reported a share of 85.5 percent.
According to the works council, the next strongest force was »The Other List« with the local ex-IG Metall boss Frank Patta.
Before the labor court, employees who ran on three other lists took action against the election process.
Criticism of the management style of some trade unionists had recently also been raised.
More than 67,600 employees at VW were called upon to vote for the local representation in Wolfsburg alone.
66 of 73 mandates went to IG Metall.
In the electoral system, each of the eight candidate lists had to receive a minimum number of votes in order to be able to provide representatives.
Therefore, some votes were not considered at the end.
atb/dpa
