Parity Representation on Supervisory Board of Porsche Automobil Holding SEParticipation of Employees of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG in Co-Determination Process Ensured
Stuttgart. Prior to the establishment of Porsche Automobil Holding SE resolved today, the Board of Management of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, and the so-called Besondere Verhandlungsgremium (BVG, Special Negotation Board) have reached an agreement covering the co-determination of employees in the new Holding. The BVG was formed in its constitutive meeting on 10 May 2007 and is made up of 17 delegates from the Porsche Group and its national companies in the EU Member States Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, and Spain, as well as representatives of the IG Metall German Metalworkers Union.
In particular, the agreement determines the competences and tasks of employees in the Works Council of the new Holding as well as the procedure for the election of the future SE Works Council and the representation of employees on the SE Supervisory Board. The Supervisory Board of Porsche Automobil Holding will be made up of twelve members, with parity representation of employers and employees.
Uwe Hück, the Chairman of the Group Works Council of Porsche AG, expressed his satisfaction at the result of the negotiations: "Establishing the Holding was essential to maintain Porsche's independence and autonomy also in future – we want Porsche to remain Porsche. I believe that particularly with this in mind both sides have achieved a fair result." For, in Hück‘s words, it was Porsche's workforce, who, through their commitment, skills, dedication, performance and hard work, had established the economic foundation required for acquiring a stake in VW and increasing this participation beyond the 30-per cent level of Volkswagen common stock. "Precisely for this reason we wish to once and for all secure the participation of our colleagues at Porsche in the process of co-determination within the new Holding", stated the Chairman of Porsche's Group Works Council in justifying and substantiating the decision taken.
Hück then added: "It is particularly important for us to have transferred the basic principles of German co-determination to the new Porsche Automobil Holding SE." Should further entities within the Group join the Holding in future, he stated, representatives of such companies would duly join the SE Works Council under the new agreement, with decisions being taken on an appropriate majority basis. Again in Hück's words, the employees' seats on the SE Supervisory Board “will be spread out on a fair and equitable basis among all companies within the Group". He added that the trade unions currently represented on Porsche's Supervisory Board will be receiving their seats on the new SE Supervisory Board in accordance with the German Co-Determination Act, in terms of both the number of seats and the right to propose members of the Supervisory Board. Hück: "The agreement we have now reached would also remain in force on a long-term basis if other Group companies joined the overall Group in addition to Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG."
Apart from Hück, the other representatives of employees on the first Supervisory Board of Porsche Automobil Holding SE, which is to be appointed by court order, are Werner Weresch (Works Councillor Zuffenhausen/Ludwigsburg), Walter Uhl (Works Council Weissach), Wolfgang Leimgruber (Representative of Senior Managers of Porsche AG), as well as Hans Baur and Hansjörg Schmierer (both from the Stuttgart IG Metall Metalworkers Union). The shareholders' side on the Supervisory Board is the same as so far on the Board of Dr. Ing. hc. F. Porsche AG.
26.06.2007