Friday 17th December 2021
“Last” attempt with VW group
IG Metall boss: Diess’ outbreaks must end
VW CEO Diess and the powerful VW works council have been arguing for months. The body dominated by IG Metall supports a recent compromise, according to which Diess is allowed to stay. An interview with IG Metall boss Hofmann suggests that peace has long since returned.
In the power struggle for the leadership of Volkswagen, IG Metall does not want to accept any more provocations from CEO Herbert Diess. “This is now a last attempt at cooperation,” said the chairman of the metal industry union, Jörg Hofmann, of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. “We do this in the hope that his erratic outbursts will come to an end.”
If not, you will have to face the issue again, Hofmann said. “I have no illusions about that.”
A good week ago, the VW supervisory board had reached a compromise: Diess remains at the top of the group despite its violent dispute with the employee side, but has to give up power and henceforth concentrate on strategic issues, especially software. “If Herbert Diess wants to develop the company forwards as CEO, he has to prove himself there,” Hofmann told the “FAZ”.
“You don’t do that on Twitter or Linkedin”
Diess’ strategic competence is undisputed. That alone is not enough for a CEO, said Hofmann: “In my understanding, this also includes the ability to inspire the team. You don’t do that via Twitter or LinkedIn, but through good and reliable communication.”
Part of the compromise is a reorganization of the management level, whereby the board of VW is growing. This makes the body larger than it is good for efficient work, Hofmann told the newspaper. “It shouldn’t stay that way forever.”
But the new constellation has its reasons: “It’s also about planning the next generation,” said Hofmann. Among other things, the current head of the core brand VW, Ralf Brandstätter, will be promoted to the board of directors and will take over Diess’s business in China. His designated successor Thomas Schäfer is also to be appointed to the board.