IG Metall opposes Vodafone

Klaus Zwickel, president of the IG Metall, Germany's largest union has come out strongly against the planned take-over of the German company Mannesmann, by Vodafone, the UK's biggest mobile phone operator. Mannesmann has the largest share of the German mobile phone market but also has substantial engineering, pipes and automotive parts operations. He accused Vodafone of simply trying to get rid of "an unwelcome competitor" and said, "we want this hostile take-over to fail".

He contrasted Mannesmann's plans for the future, which, he said, would guarantee existing jobs and create new ones, with Vodafone's plans to break up the company.

Under the German system Klaus Zwickel is elected by the workforce onto Mannesmann's supervisory board, where he is the vice chair. The supervisory board is responsible for overall strategic policy although not for day-to-day operations.