Zwickau/Dresden (dpa/sn) – Jens Rothe, head of the works council at Volkswagen Sachsen for many years, is moving to the management team of the Transparent Factory in Dresden. On March 1, he will take over as HR manager. The job was recently vacant. The 52-year-old should advance the strategic realignment of the location, said Human Resources Director Thomas Edig on Monday. Rothe has also been a member of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG since October 2021 and is a member of its executive committee. According to the information, he will also resign from this mandate.
The transparent factory not far from Dresden’s old town was originally created as a production facility for the new luxury class; today ID.3 electric cars are assembled there. Car buyers can receive their new car there and gain insight into the production process.
Rothe has been a works council member for more than 30 years. Born in Zittau, he was first elected to the committee at the Zwickau site in 1991; since 1996 he has been its chairman and at the same time head of the general works council of Volkswagen Sachsen. Volkswagen Sachsen has around 13,000 employees. In addition to Zwickau and Dresden, the engine plant in Chemnitz also belongs to the company. According to reports, a decision has not yet been made about Rothe’s successor at the head of the works council committees.
“I know that a change from the works council to the company side can also trigger criticism,” emphasized Rothe in a letter to the workforce, which is available to the German Press Agency. However, he wanted to take on another task in which he could achieve a lot for the workforce. This is possible in the Transparent Factory, the smallest of the three locations in Saxony with 340 employees.
Rothe referred to the successes of the past 30 years. The Zwickau factory has been completely renovated twice – first with the full expansion after reunification, later on the way to electromobility as an “icebreaker” in the entire group: “Our Mosel plant was the first all-electric factory in Europe in the entire automotive industry. ” He also mentioned the gradual integration of Volkswagen Sachsen into Volkswagen AG by 2027. “The fact that we as VW Sachsen will soon be Volkswagen AG – with everything that goes with it – is for me personally the greatest success since 1991.”
