(c) (Von Cornelius Welp, welt)[https://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/plus253000222/Ottobock-Zorniger-Brief-an-die-Mitarbeiter-laesst-den-Streit-im-Unternehmen-eskalieren.html]
At the prosthetics manufacturer Ottobock, a conflict is simmering between management and employees. An internal letter to the workforce now reveals just how heated the atmosphere truly is. It revolves around the union’s advance within the company – and a mouse comic.
The internal letter from management to the approximately 9,000 employees of the medical technology company Ottobock is titled “Respect Is Not a One-Way Street.” Its content sounds far from conciliatory. The reason for this is the actions of the union, whose “aggressive, polemical communication” and “permanent negative campaigning against management and the company” are deemed “inappropriate.”
The management has “now reached a point where we hardly see any possibility of constructive cooperation with the union,” states the letter dated July 12, signed by all four managing directors of Ottobock and obtained by WELT.
The letter is the latest escalation stage of a conflict that has intensified at an inopportune time for the manufacturer of prosthetics and wheelchairs based in Duderstadt, Lower Saxony. After all, Ottobock is currently focused on pooling all its resources. For the “entire team,” it’s “full steam ahead,” owner Hans-Georg Näder recently announced in an interview.
After his family bought back shares from financial investor EQT at the beginning of 2017, the already twice-cancelled IPO is hoped to succeed in the foreseeable future. This won’t be a walk in the park. Although the company is growing significantly year after year, it is hampered by weak profitability and high debt.
An Ottobock spokesperson declined to comment on WELT’s inquiry about the letter. Sources close to the company say that management was also responding to complaints from employees who felt pressured by the union.
A representative of IG Metall, Germany’s largest industrial union, which has only been expanding its influence at Ottobock for a few weeks, also did not comment on the letter. Union circles consider the tone and content of the letter both “surprising” and “excessive.” They admit that some content may have been “somewhat exaggerated,” but maintain that communication never exceeded the usual framework. “They seem to be particularly sensitive there,” say sources close to IG Metall.
The specific trigger for the letter is a controversy over a new regulation of performance bonuses. IG Metall illustrated its opinion on this with, among other things, a satirical mouse comic, which the union adopted. Union circles consider this “completely harmless,” while for management, these cartoons represent the “pinnacle of disrespect.” It is “particularly alarming,” the letter states, that the employee representatives are “letting unions dictate the direction and tone.”
IG Metall has played a minor role in the company so far, but this is now changing. “This is new territory for management, they have to find their way into it,” a union representative recently said in an interview with the “Göttinger Tageblatt.”
Several Hundred Ottobock Employees Join IG Metall
The increased union activities have reportedly led to several hundred Ottobock employees joining IG Metall, with a potential goal of entering into a collective bargaining agreement. Germany’s largest trade union is also experiencing growth elsewhere. In 2023, nearly 130,000 new members joined – a ten percent increase compared to the previous year.
Despite the retirement of numerous union members due to age, the total membership remained almost stable at around 2.14 million. The service sector union Verdi even managed to slightly increase its membership after years of decline.
When trade unions seek to expand their influence within companies, it often leads to conflicts. IG Metall recently faced significant resistance at Tesla’s plant in Grünheide, Brandenburg, where they demanded, among other things, a collective bargaining agreement.
In a speech to the workforce, CEO Elon Musk reportedly warned against an “external entity whose interests may not align with those of Tesla.” In the March works council election, IG Metall received nearly 40 percent of the votes. While this made them the strongest faction in the council, it remains dominated by employee representatives independent of the union.
Many family-owned businesses traditionally view unions as confrontational and therefore unpopular. “I advise against giving your vote in the works council election to candidates who are important for a union’s revenue balance,” billionaire Reinhold Würth wrote to his employees two years ago. Recently, IG Metall’s demands for substantial wage increases and a four-day work week have also provoked entrepreneurs like chainsaw manufacturer Nikolas Stihl and Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller, CEO of machine tool maker Trumpf.
A common accusation is that the union agitates in its own interest without regard for the company. Ottobock’s management shares this view. “We desire a strong works council that shapes the future together with us and contributes ideas, rather than railing against us,” states their letter. It adds that the “complicated relationship” should not be at the expense of the employees. This is a sentiment with which even the union would likely agree.