After complaints from some participants, the Braunschweig labor court found deficiencies in the course of the last works council election at the VW main plant in Wolfsburg and declared them invalid for the time being. “The challenge to the election was successful,” said the court on request. From the vote in March was the list of IG Metal with works council chief Daniela Cavallo (47) emerged as the winner by a wide margin.
As a court spokesman said on Wednesday, a total of nine applicants complained about the handling of postal voting, among other things. For example, the priority of attendance voting over postal voting was violated, it said. According to the court, the handling of postal vote returns was also criticized. The employees of alternative lists also saw irregularities with regard to election posters. From their point of view, destruction and pasting over had not been effectively prevented.
The works council wants to challenge the decision at the next instance
The spokesman for the Braunschweig labor court emphasized that the decision was not final. An appeal against the decision can be lodged with the Lower Saxony Regional Labor Court in Hanover within one month.
The works council spoke of a surprising decision, which they took note of. The written justification must still be awaited in detail. “Regardless of this, it is already clear: the works council will go to the next instance to have the current decision reviewed by the state labor court,” it said. The reasons given to the court why the vote should be contestable are not considered convincing.
Cavallo was there for the Volkswagen The traditionally influential IG Metall officially stood up for the first time as the works council’s top candidate in the main plant, after the committees had initially only temporarily and internally appointed her as the successor to Bernd Osterloh (65) in 2021. After the count, the union reported a share of 85.5 percent. According to the works council, the next strongest force was “The Other List” with the local ex-IG Metall boss Frank Patta. Cavallo also sits on the presidium of the VW supervisory board, where all fundamental decisions on corporate strategy are made.
More than 67,600 employees at Volkswagen were called upon to vote for the local representation in Wolfsburg. 66 of 73 mandates in Wolfsburg went to IG Metall. In the electoral system, each of the eight candidate lists had to receive a minimum number of votes in order to be able to provide representatives. Therefore, some votes were not considered at the end.