VW Strange smell

Volkswagen’s worker directors certainly didn’t waste their votes when they backed Ferdinand Piech against critics who wanted him to step down as chairman. Just a month has passed and – ker-ching – he has returned the favour. In a board vote, Piech has backed the unions’ favoured candidate for the sensitive post of labour director – the executive with whom they have to negotiate pay, redundancies and conditions. In doing so, he is thought to have gone against the wishes of VW’s own chief executi...