The ongoing efforts of Porsche to take over Volkswagen, now the third largest automaker, have come upon another stumbling block: VW’s labor board. Reportedly, Porsche is trying to create a two-tier system that would have the 12,000 Porsche employees outrank VW’s workforce.

It’s little surprise then that Bernd Osterloh, VW’s senior labor leader, is against such a system, as per an Automotive News report, saying the talks between the two companies are in danger.
“If the 360,000 men and women working in the Volkswagen Group were of the opinion that a labor contract has to be terminated, Porsche representatives in the holding’s works council could then prevent this, according to the plans in Zuffenhausen,” Osterloh said.

Osterloh is also a member of the supervisory board at VW, and went on to say that the European works council will intervene in mid August to see if further talks are necessary or will be of any use.
Porsche maintains its current deal, which took effect last June and is valid for 10 years, is not up for renegotiation. Osterloh pledged to use all legal options at his disposal to force a renegotiation if the current talks fail.

“We are going in circles,” Osterloh said. “Porsche finally has to budge.”

These labor negotiations and the special status of Lower Saxony previously referred to as VW Law are the last remaining issues standing between Porsche’s integration of VW.

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