MD’s ‘darkest days’ in labour unrest

LABOUR disruptions during negotiations over new agreements for the automotive industry were the “hardest and darkest days” of outgoing Volkswagen South Africa (VWSA) managing director David Powels’s tenure.

Powels said the biggest lost opportunity was the way the industry engaged with labour through two rounds of negotiations during the eight years he was VWSA’s managing director. He spoke about the “desperation as the plant stops”, stressing that everybody was a loser in the labour stand-offs, which damaged the country’s reputation. He said the industry would have to find a better way of dealing with labour issues and synchronising the negotiations of agreements for the various segments of the industry.

“We have to change the attitude and mindset of both parties to find a less destructive and disruptive way of settling disputes. It starts with reasonable demands and maturity.

“On both sides, we have not covered ourselves in glory. We have to find a better way. Some joint initiatives have started, but the clock is ticking. The next negotiations are in 2016 and in a month it is 2015 and then it’s 18 months away. We have got a lot of work to do,” he said.

On the positive side, Powels indicated he would like to be remembered for driving VWSA’s local content and people improvements.

He added that during his tenure as VWSA’s managing director the group had become the sales volume leader in the passenger market on a fairly sustainable basis, moved customer satisfaction from “middle of the road to number two or three” and modernised the look and feel of the Volkswagen and Audi brand.

Despite the economic cycles, VWSA had stuck to its investment plan and invested R7 billion in modernising its manufacturing plant and rationalising its production platforms, which amounted to an investment of about R1bn a year, he said.