Herbert Diess’s job is once again on the line

WHEN BERND OSTERLOHVWVW, the mighty boss of Volkwagen’s council that represents workers, announced his resignation in April many investors breathed a sigh of relief. Frequent, acrimonious clashes between him and Herbert Diess, the group’s no-less-mighty chief executive, had become a distraction from the big changes required to push into the electric age. The culmination was Mr Osterloh’s attempt to topple Mr Diess.Yet only six months after the departure of his near nemesis Mr Diess is again locking horns with labour representatives. This time observers say the brash Bavarian may have gone too far. After all, Volkswagen’s workers have enormous clout. Their representatives occupy half the seats on the group’s 20-member supervisory board. They can count on the loyalty of the two board representatives of Lower Saxony, the western German state that owns a fifth of . The Volkswagen law from 1960 that limits voting rights of any shareholder to 20% gives Lower Saxony a de facto veto on any big decision.