Company
Volkswagen
Date of signature
29 October 2009
Signatories
Volkswagen AG, Volkswagen European Group Works Council, Volkswagen Group Global Works Council, International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF)
Key objectives
“With this Charter, the parties thereto establish the in-house participation rights of democratically elected employee representatives […] In the context of a performance-based and participatory culture, ‘performance’ stands for the active, competent and committed contribution […] toward the collective success of the enterprise. ‘Participatory’ means that the workforce is actively incorporated into the development of the organisation, with employees making their contributions to the continual improvement of processes and working conditions and having a stake in the success of the enterprise. […] Following this ideal of ""performance and participation"", the Charter offers defined participation rights at the operational level. As part of the local agreements, participation rights are implemented in concrete form between the local parties.”
Duration
“If so desired by both sides, this Agreement may be consensually modified. Should any provision of this Agreement be invalid, the parties shall agree to replace it with a new one which comes as close as possible to the invalid provision.”
Applicable law
Not defined
Implementation and dissemination
Implementation:
“Base on this Charter, employee representatives and management at the local level shall conclude ‘site-specific participation agreements’. The procedure for such agreement shall comprise four key steps: (1) Assessment of the current situation […] (2) Selection of participation rights and the specification of regulation content […] (3) Multi-phase schedule and training measures […] (4) Provision of information to the workforce. […]”
Dissemination:
“The workforce at the respective site shall receive information about the content of this Charter and the content of the locally agreed participation contract. […]The works council will be given opportunity within the framework of respective company practice to conduct information briefings for the workforce together with management.”
Review and monitoring
"A control group shall be formed comprising the president and secretary-general of the Volkswagen European Group Works Council and the Volkswagen Group Global Works Council as well as the labour director and the head of Group HR International. It shall maintain a system of regular progress reports on the sites and companies, which reports shall be agreed among the parties. […] The control group will support the implementation process using the device, among others, of training measures and the installation of an electronic platform onto which the agreements and regulations laid down for each site shall be posted for retrieval by the parties concerned.”
Dispute settlement and sanctions
Dispute settlement:
"The parties concerned shall install a local agreement committee. […] Should agreement not be reached at this level, the president and secretary-general of the Volkswagen European Group Works Council or the Volkswagen Group Global Works Council on the one side and the director of labour and head of Group HR International on the other shall be called upon to help resolve the situation. The bodies concerned shall be informed accordingly.”
Main topic
Employees’ representatives rights,
Secondary topic(s)
information and consultation.