At Volkswagen, Labor Knives Come Out for Herbert Diess

Volkswagen brand chief Herbert Diess has a target on his back, now that the union representing the automaker’s workers has made its distrust of the company public.

Labor union IG Metall slammed the company’s management in a letter published on its website, stating the company was using the diesel emissions scandal as a way of cutting staff, according to Bloomberg.

The union said it wants assurances from Volkswagen brass that layoffs aren’t coming down the pipe, and implied that Diess’ job is in danger if he doesn’t agree to protect employee positions.

“We have the impression that the diesel scandal is being used as a back door to undertake personnel cuts that wouldn’t have been on the agenda a few months ago,” works council boss Bernd Osterloh said in the letter, adding that the company’s management “lacks reliability.”

Other top union officials expressed their lack of trust in company management.

Diess has more reason to sweat than executives at other automakers. Volkswagen workers make up half of the company’s supervisory board, and Osterloh sits on the board as well.

A decade ago, brand chief Wolfgang Bernhard was muscled out of his position after proposing cost-cutting measures, and the same fate could await Diess.

Volkswagen personnel chief Karlheinz Blessing responded quickly to the union’s letter, claiming that negotiations would begin soon to hammer out an agreement on the long-term future of staff and facilities.

A report emerged last month that suggested Volkswagen was planning to cut some of its 40,000-strong office staff in Germany to free up money needed to settle lawsuits, fines and other costs arising from the scandal.

Other company-wide efficiencies were labelled “unrealistic” by Osterloh, who refused to back any cost-cutting plan that involved staffing cuts.