European Group Works Council and European HR managers evaluate progress in implementing charter
Two-day conference in Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg, 11 May 2012 – At a joint meeting in Wolfsburg on Friday, the Volkswagen European Group Works Council and European HR managers from the Volkswagen Group gave a positive assessment of progress in implementing the Global Labor Charter.
The charter was signed by the Volkswagen Global Group Works Council, the Volkswagen Group Board of Management and the International Metalworkers’ Federation in fall 2009. It combines extended participation rights of employee representative bodies worldwide with shared responsibility.
“This calls for a high level of competence and a keen sense of responsibility on the part of both employer and employee representatives”, Bernd Osterloh, President of the European Group Works Council, said. “Good agreements that preserve this balance to the benefit of the workforce and the company are now in place at many sites,”
Dr. Horst Neumann, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft responsible for Human Resources, underscored: “Employee participation and a positive attitude to performance are two sides of the same coin. Codetermination at Volkswagen is one of our success factors. The future belongs to a responsible business approach based on broad participation.”
The Volkswagen Group’s Global Labor Charter is internationally valid makes provision for the phased introduction of information, consultation and codetermination rights for employee representative bodies from the brands, companies and sites represented in the Global Group Works Council.
Numerous agreements between management and employee representative bodies regarding the implementation of the charter have been concluded at the Group’s international sites since 2009. In many instances, codetermination has been developed further in the spirit of the charter.
Volkswagen Slovakia, Volkswagen AutoEuropa and Volkswagen Motor Polska reported on their progress at the conference in Wolfsburg.