Volkswagen and unions
Workers of the German auto manufacturer Volkswagen Group are collectively organized and represented by unions and Works Councils across the globe.
Within Germany, the role of the union IG Metall and Works Councils at Volkswagen is unique, even compared with other large auto firms.
VW Group has a tradition and practice of social partnership and co-determination rights between management and workers beyond the regulated standards.
The German Works Councils were particularly concerned with the political developments in Apartheid South Africa and the military dictatorship in Brazil.
[4]: 20–21 While most of the Volkswagen and unions operate on a respective national level, several transnational structures like the VW Global and European Works Councils and the InterSoli groups bridge these connections.
[6]: 28 InterSoli, in addition to the VW World Group Committee established in 1979 by the International Metalworkers' Federation,[note 1] facilitates global contact between German union members and workers in foreign operations.
The first meeting was in 1990, with a signed agreement in 1992; a full two years prior to the EU ratification of the European Works Council Directive (94/45/EC).
[4] The preamble and provisions of the GWC are copied nearly verbatim from the VW European Works Council agreements, albeit with a different formula accounting for the additional non–European countries.
[8] However, VW Group formally limits the scope of the GFA to countries represented in the Global Works Council, which China is not a member of.
[18]: 19 In 1947, the provisions of the Control Council Act No 22 were applied to VW, which notably included co-determination rights over hiring, firing and transfer of employees.
[18]: 52–53 In addition to the infighting between the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Communists (KPD), far-right wing union opposition candidates from the German Right Party (DRP; Deutsche Rechtspartei) ran for the first time in 1948.
IG Metall became the dominant union force in VW one year later, coinciding with the German period of ""economic miracles".
However in the case of VW on the employer side, Lower Saxony state holds two seats, which are currently filled by politicians Stephan Weil and Bernd Althusmann.
Unlike its automotive competitors BMW or Daimler who have regional agreements, this means lG Metall negotiates directly with Volkswagen Group, instead of an employer association.
[1] The 2021 collective agreement applies to 120,000 VW workers in the following six plants: Wolfsburg, Braunschweig, Hanover, Salzgitter, Emden and Kassel as well as Volkswagen Financial Services.
[31] A network of 2,500 rank-and-file IG Metall union representatives organized internally by the "Union Representative Steering Committee of VW" (German: Vertrauenskörperleitung bei VW) ensure the IG Metall backed Works Council has extensive influence and reach in the workplace.
In a 2014 National Truth Commission, the extent to which VW Brasil management collaborated with the Brazilian military dictatorship was revealed.
[33] In 2020, VW Group agreed to pay 5.5 million euros, part of which will go the Heinrich Plagge victims' association, and the rest going towards various research and human rights projects.
[34] While VW Brasil was not directly involved with the 1964 military overthrow of the Brazilian government, as a significant financial contributor to the Industrial Association of São Paulo (FIESP) which wielded political influence and was in favour of regime change, VW Brasil CEO Friedrich Schultz-Wenk was most likely in favour as well.
[3] Wenk not only justified the violence and repression against communists (PCB) and union leaders, but in a letter to VW Group CEO Heinrich Nordhoff, Wenk stated "What is currently taking place is a hunt such as we did not even see back in 1933 in Germany",[3]: 328 a nod to the Nazi rise to power in Germany, which was stated in awe and respect rather than horror.
Nordhoff did not share the same enthusiasm, not because of concern for human rights, but because of the negative impact the political instability might have on VW Brasil.
In October 1980, VW Brasil became the first major company in Brazil to have employee representation (a Works Council) even though it was not required by law.
[43] Following another demo organized on 21 May, three worker representatives, Fu Tianbo, Wang Shuai, and Ai Zhenyu were detained by police on 26 May.
[54] South African Motor Assemblers and Distributors Limited (SAMAD) agreed to manufacture Beetle cars in Uitenhage, Eastern Cape for Volkswagen.
The 1973 Bantu Labour Relations Act for Black workers stipulated the creation of "liaison committees" on the plant level which were limited in power.
The present day Volkswagen Chattanooga Assembly Plant raised international headlines over high profile union drives that were unsuccessful in 2014 and 2019.
[62] From the outset, minorities picketed the site, seeking fair treatment in the hiring process[63] and by its first 20 months of operation, workers had staged six walkouts.
[65] On 13 October 13 1978, six months after the plant opened, UAW workers staged a wildcat strike at Westmoreland for salaries equal to those received by General Motors employees.
[71] VWoA denied the charges and later settled the case without admission of guilt in 1989, paying 800 plaintiffs $670,000 and the United Auto Workers $48,000.
[72] The Volkswagen Chattanooga Assembly Plant attracted international attention in 2014 after it was proposed that employees elect a union in order to implement a Works Council that has co-determination, consultation and participation rights with management.
