2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 15:44
Bernd Osterloh attacked the large VW owner families Porsche and Piech. He wanted them to be more willing to reform, said the carmaker's works council boss.
The battered automaker Volkswagen is facing new problems. The powerful group works council chief Bernd Osterloh attacked the large VW owner family Porsche / Piëch. "In any case, to this day we have received no support from the families as employees in remedying the grievances," said Osterloh on Sunday to the dpa news agency. As spokesman for the family, he called on Wolfgang Porsche to be more willing to reform.
On Friday, Volkswagen announced a "future pact" between the board of directors and the works council, which also provides for the socially acceptable cutbacks of 23,000 jobs in Germany over the next few years. Wolfgang Porsche defended the massive job cuts and told the trade journal "Automobilwoche" on the sidelines of a sporting event in the Gulf state of Bahrain: "Everyone knew that something had to happen." Osterloh was surprised. "Dr. Porsche is more than happy to help implement the right strategies. That helps the company more than visiting a car race in Bahrain," he said.
Check bonus payments
The Porsche / Piëch families hold more than half of the VW ordinary shares with voting rights and thus have power in Europe's largest car manufacturer. Wolfgang Porsche had previously been said to have a good and trusting relationship with the works council.
Shareholder advocates meanwhile asked the VW supervisory board to review the bonus payments for top managers in view of the diesel scandal. "The board members cannot be paid for successes based on software manipulation and fraud," said Jürgen Kurz from the German Association for Protection of Securities to the "Tagesspiegel". He warned that the board of directors would expose itself to liability risks if it did not examine whether the bonuses could be contractually reclaimed or withheld.
The salaries of the board of directors are noticeably reduced quite normally in the agreed calculation mode, as the bad financial year is leaving its mark. In addition, the Management Board voluntarily offered to postpone the partial waiver of the variable remuneration for three years and to make it dependent on the development of the share price. (AG / dpa)
