TÜV Süd already has enough trouble after the dam catastrophe three years ago in Brazil with 270 deaths; a major lawsuit against the auditing group is pending at the Munich I district court. Now the TÜV Süd also has the trade union IG mining, chemicals, energy (IG BCE) against it. IG BCE supports another lawsuit against the testing group, which is being pinched to a certain extent.
There is a lot of human suffering in Brazil and a lot of money for TÜV Süd, which had certified the burst dam as safe a few months earlier and is said to pay those affected more than 400 million euros. And about fundamental questions that go far beyond this case: Can the unions enforce international standards for the protection of employees? And do German companies then have to be liable for their foreign branches?
The Germans definitely don’t want to pay
TÜV Süd, which rejects any joint responsibility for the devastating dam breach, does not want to pay under any circumstances. In March 2020, in response to a first lawsuit, which was still small at the time, the auditing company warned of extensive liability at the Munich I Regional Court. That would be a “significant incentive” to try some kind of crackdown in other parts of the world. And ultimately to enable a crackdown aimed at the “supposedly deep pockets” of German companies with foreign branches, according to TÜV Süd.
Michael Vassiliadis, the chairman of IG BCE, has no understanding for the position of TÜV Süd. The Brazilian branch of the German testing company issued a certificate of non-objection for the dam near the city of Brumadinho “against better knowledge”. It is therefore morally and legally imperative that the Munich-based headquarters of TÜV Süd be held accountable. Especially since the corporate headquarters knew and approved the wrong certificate, says Vassiliadis. TÜV Süd denies that.
1112 people want compensation
On January 25, 2019, the dam of an iron ore mine near Brumadinho burst, a huge, toxic mudslide buried people, animals and houses. The Munich District Court I is dealing with the consequences today. 1112 people from Brazil are suing TÜV Süd for 436 million euros in damages. The plaintiffs are primarily relatives of the victims, but also survivors of the accident. In addition to this major lawsuit, there is another lawsuit supported by IG mining.
Around 190 miners and relatives of employees who lost their lives are demanding almost 13 million euros in damages. IG Bergbau works closely with the Brazilian sister union CNQ-CUT and is supporting the lawsuit with several hundred thousand euros, which are due as an advance on costs in court. Vassiliadis insists on the “responsibility of German multinational corporations”.
Since devastating accidents in Asian textile factories with dozens, hundreds or even more than a thousand dead and injured, social aid organizations and trade unions have been trying to enforce far-reaching requirements to protect workers through the International Labor Organization (ILO). So that corporations in Germany and elsewhere that have their goods manufactured in low-wage countries are held accountable.
There were a particularly large number of dead in the canteen below the dam
According to union information, the case of the burst dam is also about international standards, which would now also apply in Brazil. If the TÜV Süd branch had not classified the dam as safe, the mining company Vale, as the operator of the mine and the dam, would have had to react, believes IG Bergbau. The canteen below the dam, where the death toll was particularly high, should have been moved to a safe place.
TÜV Süd disagrees. “We are convinced that TÜV SÜD bears no legal responsibility for the dam failure.” In addition, the plaintiffs would be fully compensated by dam operator Vale in Brazil. “From TÜV SÜD’s point of view, there is no basis for offering payments to those affected.” The testing group believes that it will be heard by the Munich I Regional Court. The Munich I court pointed out to the operators of the first lawsuit, which has now been extended to more than 1,000 people, “that they did not conclusively justify essential applications,” according to TÜV Süd.
The regional court therefore gave the operators of the first lawsuit the opportunity to submit a supplementary statement, explains the auditing company. “The opinion of the district court of Munich I corresponds to the argumentation of TÜV SÜD.”
The globally active German testing group with an annual turnover of 2.5 billion euros goes one step further in its warning of “penetrative liability”. The brief submitted to the court in March 2020 reads: “The international business activities of German groups of companies would be made considerably more difficult by imponderable liability risks.” Local groups of companies would suffer a “considerable competitive disadvantage compared to groups from other countries”, whose courts would see it differently.
IG Bergbau and the plaintiffs do not believe that the German economy would be seriously damaged if TÜV Süd were held liable under Brazilian law. Union boss Vassiliadis accuses the testing company of trying to set up very high hurdles “to make it impossible for the affected families in Brazil to sue in Germany.” IG mining fears that TÜV Süd could offer those affected money individually. On condition that lawsuits are dropped. But TÜV Süd doesn’t even want to do that. There is no basis for “offering payments to those affected”.