Porsche headquarters in Stuttgart
The company has reduced the salaries of works councils.
(Photo: IMAGO/Arnulf Hettrich)
Several works councils of the Volkswagen subsidiary Porsche are defending themselves before the Stuttgart labor court against the reduction in their remuneration. Both the company and the employee representatives confirmed corresponding complaints on Monday. The first lawsuits have already been lodged with the courts in Stuttgart and Leipzig, and more are to follow – including from the works council chairman, Harald Buck.
Both labor courts could not initially be reached for comment. The “Stuttgarter Zeitung” reported about it first.
The background is that the works councils want to have it checked whether the adjustment made by the company to the remuneration is legal in view of the new case law of the Federal Court of Justice (BGH). Against the background of a criminal case against VW managers, the BGH had declared the long-standing practice of measuring the salaries of works councils according to their “hypothetical development” to be inadmissible at the beginning of the year. Out of concern about the allegation of infidelity, several companies then corrected the references.
“In order to achieve legal certainty, we have to go to court,” Buck was quoted as saying by the “Stuttgarter Zeitung”. “It’s not easy for us on the works council, because we’ve all been working for Porsche for a very long time and we really enjoy it.” Personally, he finds it difficult to sue the company after more than 30 years of good cooperation.
A Porsche spokeswoman said on Monday: “Porsche will first wait for the outcome of the proceedings – we do not comment on ongoing proceedings.” However, the company can understand the position of the works councils well. “We share the interest in obtaining more legal clarity on the entire complex of issues through the court proceedings.”
At Volkswagen, too, employee representatives are defending themselves in court against the reduction in their salaries. The group had also emphasized its interest in legal certainty. According to the spokeswoman, after the BGH ruling, Porsche “made adjustments to the remuneration of a small number of works council members”.
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