VW: Works council and management block promotions
Wolfsburg. A deadlock at Volkswagen. The works council and management at Volkswagen are currently blocking each other on the issue of promotion. The works council is preventing employees from being promoted to management. The reason: The company's management, in turn, is blocking promotions within and within the collective bargaining agreement. The result: a stalemate and uncertainty among affected employees. Business Insider was the first to report on the deadlock.
According to company sources, the topic surfaced during a live webcast with General Works Council Chair Daniela Cavallo in early May. There, she responded to a participant's comment that there were currently no promotions to the collective bargaining agreement, even though this was not part of the collective bargaining agreement for winter 2024, by stating that there was currently no movement on this issue. "We want to see some movement on this issue again. And that's why we've positioned ourselves so that we are currently not approving any reclassifications to management, meaning we're no longer making any management appointments," she said in the webcast.
Daniela Cavallo, VW General Works Council Chairwoman
Background: According to the Works Constitution Act, the works council is responsible for co-determination of all employees up to the level of senior management. At Volkswagen, anyone in the top management circle, such as division heads, is considered a senior manager. Therefore, the works council is still responsible for the management circle and the upper management circle.
But how does the works council justify the current blockade on promotions to management? "At the moment, I can't explain to my colleagues why this should happen in management – but not in the collective bargaining agreement. And so we have now taken this step of blocking the management appointments and informed the company," Cavallo explained the works council's position.
Promotions to the collective bargaining agreement (Tarifplus) have been a topic of discussion since November 2023. As part of the cost-cutting efforts, a hiring freeze was imposed at Volkswagen AG, and at the same time, no new positions were to be created in the collective bargaining agreement. To prevent further growth in this area, only vacant positions were filled. At the same time, it has been reviewed in advance whether the position could also be filled by an employee covered by the company's collective bargaining agreement.
A works council spokesperson responded to a query: "The topics of collective bargaining and appointments to management were indeed discussed in our webcast for the workforce at the beginning of May. There are currently differing views on the procedure between the co-determination and employer sides." However, they are confident that this conflict will be resolved in the interests of the employees. The works council spokesperson declined to comment in detail, citing internal company matters.
At Volkswagen, the collective wage plus roughly corresponds to what is considered above-tariff pay elsewhere. The collective wage plus is located between the 20 levels of the company's collective wage agreement and the lowest management level. Those employed in the collective wage plus include specialists such as occupational physicians and company doctors, as well as managers such as sub-department heads. There are three levels in the collective wage plus. In pay group I, the gross salary is €8,528, in group II it is €8,848.50, and in group II it is €9,494.50.
Previously, promotions to the Tarifplus (tariff plus) were possible every month. However, appointments to management or from there to the upper management level take place twice a year—in the summer and at the turn of the year.
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