VW boss Herbert Diess is under criticism.
Now the works council chairwoman Cavallo has spoken out and demands a perspective for Wolfsburg - for Diess it could be tight.
Wolfsburg - The Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen, Herbert Diess, surprisingly announced the reduction of 30,000 jobs at a supervisory board meeting at the end of September.
The works council reacted indignantly, now the VW boss is coming under increasing pressure.
VW boss Diess in the criticism: Works council calls for another electrical project for Wolfsburg
The automotive industry is Germany's most important branch of industry in terms of sales. Before the corona pandemic, the industry had sales of 436 billion euros in 2019 and employed around 830,000 people. But the automotive industry is currently in a state of upheaval. Europe's largest carmaker, Volkswagen, also wants to get out of combustion engines by 2035 at the latest. At least one new electric vehicle should come onto the market every year; the goal is global market leadership in the field of electric mobility. But the transition is bumpy, mainly because there is currently a lack of semiconductors. For Herbert Diess, a reduction in staff seems to be the consequence; at the end of September he surprisingly spoke of the reduction of 30,000 jobs. But this statement now puts him under massive pressure. Works council chairman Daniela Cavallo disagreed:"There is not one too many people on board here!"
Cavallo believes that the work that is no longer necessary with the new drives and technologies can largely be offset by new activities, as reported by the German Press Agency. "The deserted factory will not exist in 2030 and neither will in 2040," said Cavallo on Friday. She asks Diess to make improvements in communication and management and a perspective for the Wolfsburg plant. The Golf and Tiguan in particular are now being built there, and the E flagship Trinity will also roll off the production line in Wolfsburg in the future. Instead of calling for job cuts, Diess should rather discuss concrete plans for the plant occupancy before the start of the major electric project Trinity in Wolfsburg, said Cavallo. The works council wants at least one other electrical project for the main plant to ensure capacity utilization.The chairman of the works council would also like to see improvements in the software division Cariad: “From our point of view, Cariad could have a higher speed. In my opinion, Mr. Diess should also provide more support. ”In addition, there has recently been no functioning semiconductor management, according to Cavallo.
Porsche and Piëch are behind Herbert Diess
Diess has been Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen since 2018.
He is still under contract until 2025, in the current Zoff he received support from Porsche and Piëch: “The Porsche and Piëch families are still behind Mr Diess.
Nothing has changed in their position, ”the spokesman for the Porsche SE holding told the
Handelsblatt
on Friday
.
The families are majority shareholders in Volkswagen.
But the approval could crumble, because the operational problems in the group had recently increased.
A downward trend has been noticeable in the VW share price for a few months.
The works council had questioned Diess after his statement, the supervisory board was taken by surprise, a vote of no confidence followed at the meeting of the supervisory boards.
A mediation committee is now to clarify how things will go on with Herbert Diess.
