German Handelsblatt: Volkswagen: Works council election at VW initially remains valid after court decision007532

Daniela Cavallo

The representative of IG Metall won the election by a large margin. Inferior lists complained.

(Photo: Volkswagen)

The recent works council election at Volkswagen in Wolfsburg does not have to be repeated. On Wednesday, the state labor court in Hanover overturned a decision by the Braunschweig labor court from last summer that had declared the election invalid, as the works council announced (Az.: 13 TaBV 46/22). No one could be reached at the court for comment on Wednesday evening.
“We welcome the decision of the regional labor court,” said a spokesman for the works council. “This strengthens our belief that the findings of the first instance in Braunschweig were incorrect and premature. This criticism of the course of the election has now been dispelled.”
In the first instance, the plaintiffs had won on July 13, 2022 in Braunschweig. They had complained that, in their opinion, there had been irregularities in the March 2022 election. From the vote, the list of IG Metall with works council chief Daniela Cavallo emerged as the winner by a wide margin.

A total of nine candidates from inferior lists had sued. Among other things, they had complained about the scope of postal voting. Here, the priority of attendance over postal voting was violated. The handling of postal ballot returns was also criticized.

The decision that has now been made by the regional labor court is not yet final. It can still be challenged by appeal to the Federal Labor Court.
More: VW brand boss Thomas Schäfer urges management in fire speech to austerity course.
First publication: 08/30/2023, 7:30 p.m.

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