VW works council chief Cavallo: “I can be very stubborn”

Daniela Cavallo, head of the general works council at VW, is considered one of the most powerful employee representatives in the world. Last year she was inherited by Bernd Osterloh. Now she has faced the vote of the employees for the first time.

Daniela Cavallo straightens her blazer again and smoothes her black hair. The spotlights in the Volkswagen studio are aimed at them, the webcast for employees is about to start, live from Südstrasse on the factory premises in Wolfsburg. It is mostly bad news that the 46-year-old has to deliver to her colleagues in front of the screens today. So her eyes are serious as she turns her head to the teleprompter.

Fighting for the headquarters in Wolfsburg

Then she begins to speak, calm and concentrated. About the war in Ukraine, human suffering. And about the fact that this war is also having a massive impact on Volkswagen’s business. After the semiconductors, the cables are now becoming scarce, the suppliers in the Ukraine can only produce half of the usual amount at most. The result: conveyor belts have to be stopped everywhere in Germany, first in Zwickau and Dresden, but there is also short-time work at the headquarters in Wolfsburg. Once again.

For Cavallo, this means: more dissatisfied employees, fears for the future, a lot of need for discussion. Even if there is hardly a group in which the employees are as secure as at Volkswagen. It is precisely this security that the 46-year-old wants to maintain for her employees. She wants to avoid that the Wolfsburg site in particular, the heart of the group, is left behind on the way to the future. And the future means electric mobility, autonomous driving, software. Become better than main competitor Tesla. “What I actually fight for here every day is that employment remains at a high level. That people are qualified, that they are not the losers of the transformation. That future generations can also find work here.”

Cavallo comes from a “VW family”

Just like her father once did, who came to Wolfsburg from southern Italy to work at Volkswagen. And like herself, her two younger sisters and her husband. And who knows, maybe one day her two daughters too. Volkswagen is a kind of family business for the Cavallos. After graduating from high school, Cavallo briefly considered leaving Wolfsburg and studying. “Then I stayed, which in retrospect was the best step. I’ve never regretted doing it,” she says today.

In 2002 she joined the works council, and the newly introduced quota for women helped her. It is quite possible that it would otherwise have been overlooked – or rather underestimated. Because Cavallo enters quietly. She dispenses with the occasional rumble and provocation that was part of the brand essence of her predecessor Bernd Osterloh. Not her style. A luxury Gucci scarf around her neck like with Osterloh is hard to imagine with her. And being in the spotlight of a studio is more of a necessary evil than a pleasure.

Because it is also about two heads smaller than its predecessor, it can actually happen that it is underestimated. “But not from the people who have already worked with me,” says Cavallo dryly. “Others who don’t know me that well may be guided by appearances. But they quickly realize that I’m persistent when I think certain demands are justified.” Like the 3000 euro bonus for every employee in Wolfsburg or the 500 euro corona bonus.

Respected and valued throughout the Group

CEO Herbert Diess also had to experience the painful experience that the top employee representative can be stubborn. In the end, he emerged as the loser from a public dispute with Cavallo in the fall. As a side note, he had dropped the fact that more than 30,000 jobs were actually superfluous in Wolfsburg. Cavallo attacked him sharply – and Diess finally rowed back. Today he says about Cavallo:

Diess and Cavallo are currently working together silently, there is a joint meeting at least once a week. Nevertheless, Cavallo is not completely without opponents in the group. She has never worked on the assembly line and does not know the production halls from her own experience. Individual long-standing IG Metall members are strangers to the woman at the head of the works council. Some accuse her of being too close to the board, others the exact opposite – they criticize a tone that is too sharp.

It is certain that Cavallo will still be confirmed in office. She herself will not celebrate that much, but will continue to work. Calm and matter-of-fact. And mostly away from the big headlights.