Verdi boss Frank Werneke wants to keep companies in Germany as free as possible from right-wing ideas and AfD-affiliated forces. The “acid test” would be the works council elections in the spring, “where we will of course look closely to see whether AfD-affiliated lists or individuals are trying to conquer the company space for themselves,” Werneke told the dpa news agency. The next works council elections will take place from March 1st to May 31st, 2026. Around 180,000 members of works councils are elected. Werneke said that forces close to the AfD were trying to win as many mandates as possible. “Very manageable size” In the unions, AfD officials are only represented as members in a “very manageable size,” according to the Verdi boss’s assessment. However, there are already a significant number of AfD-voting union members. There are currently only comparatively few members of the Zentrum association, which is considered to be close to the AfD, on the works councils. The association sees itself as “the alternative union,” as it says in its name. The organization was founded in 2009 by employees from the Stuttgart headquarters of what was then Daimler AG. Werneke said right-wing forces were now trying to expand their position. Before the upcoming works council elections, Verdi is making “great effort” to ensure that no one who is a right-wing extremist candidate runs on its own lists. “We also work with declarations of self-image that candidates have to sign if they want to run on our lists.” Werneke regrets the lack of works councils. So far, it has been possible to keep the world of work “largely free” of right-wing tendencies and largely free of organized AfD structures – unlike what is the case with many clubs in some regions of Germany. The AfD is increasingly trying to take over the public space – clubs, sports, cultural offerings. The head of the service union regretted that there are no works councils in many companies. The unions would then find it more difficult to influence the world of work. There is a not insignificant problem with right-wing lists, especially in the industrial sector, for example in the automotive supply industry. More on the topic Before the upcoming state elections, particularly in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Werneke called on the democratic parties to maintain a firewall. They should “leave no doubt about not working with the AfD”. In general, the democratic parties need to have a stronger influence on society again – even in rural regions, where a permanent new breeding ground for the AfD is being created. Werneke sees an important requirement for politics in this context to be the maintenance of good public services. Specifically, Werneke accused Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) of allowing cuts to the detriment of municipalities. “This, I have to say, is a fatal signal because it means letting the municipalities down and getting into ever greater problems in the foreseeable future.” Werneke pointed out the importance of municipal services. “If everything declines more and more, crumbles, everything is driven to wear and tear, then in my view it is a threat to democracy.”
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