Thursday April 22, 2021
Supervisory board advises succession
Will VW works council chief Osterloh switch to Traton?
He is one of the most powerful works council heads in Germany and a sharp critic of the VW boss: Bernd Osterloh could now vacate his position at the car manufacturer and move to his daughter Traton. But he would have to vacate all positions at the parent company.
Volkswagen works council chairman Bernd Osterloh could, after many years, be the first critic of CEO Herbert Diess to step down from the Wolfsburg-based group’s supervisory board. The long-standing member of the supervisory body was offered the post of HR director at VW subsidiary Traton, said an insider. Should Osterloh accept the offer from Traton, he would have to give up his position on the Volkswagen supervisory body as an employee representative.
Another insider confirmed that there were considerations to replace a leading employee representative on the supervisory board. Five people familiar with the processes at the Wolfsburg-based group said that the supervisory body would soon be discussing an important personnel change in the supervisory board.
Neither Volkswagen nor the main owner, Porsche SE, nor the works council commented on this. Traton also declined to comment and referred to Volkswagen. An insider from Wolfsburg said that messages can be expected for Friday morning that would affect the future personnel list of the employee representatives.
A dispute with Diess needed mediators
Osterloh has been a member of the Wolfsburg Group’s supervisory board since 2005. The 64-year-old is considered to be one of the most powerful employee representatives in Germany and has already had a number of arguments with CEO Diess. The conflict over a contract extension demanded by Diess, according to insiders, almost cost the CEO last year. The week-long dispute with the works council was only resolved in December through the mediation of the chairman of the supervisory board, Hans Dieter Pötsch.
The likely successor for Osterloh, should he leave the supervisory board, is the deputy works council chairman Daniela Cavallo. You would first have to be appointed to the supervisory board. The Annual General Meeting in July could decide on this if the course should be set by then. But it could also be ordered by the registry court. Volkswagen’s works council elections are due next spring and the employee representatives on the supervisory board also have to be re-elected.
A few years ago, Osterloh was once considered a candidate for human resources on the Volkswagen Group Board of Management, but turned it down at the time. Gunnar Kilian, a close confidante of the Works Council Chairman, got this post in 2018. The largest VW shareholder is the Porsche SE holding company, through which the Porsche and Piech families hold the majority of the world’s second largest car company. The state of Lower Saxony holds 20 percent of VW, followed by the Emirate of Qatar with 17 percent of the voting rights. Employees and capital representatives each make up half of the 20 representatives on the Supervisory Board.
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