Volkswagen

Detlef Wetzel, head of Germany’s IG Metall metalworking union, has said that workers at the car company Volkswagen should not pay the costs of the diesel emissions scandal that has rocked the business.

And he defended the German system of employee board-level representation, against the criticism that the employee representatives on Volkswagen’s board, including senior figures from IG Metall, should have acted to prevent the company’s manipulation of the diesel emission results.

“What is built into a car is not covered by trade union board-level involvement”, Detlef said.