Max Tayenthal and Valentin Stalf, the founders of the German competitor N26, have obtained an injunction to prevent the works council election.
The founders of the German startup bank have previously stated that a works council “would go against almost all the values we believe in at N26”.
An email from Stalf to staff, seen by Finance Forward, states: “We would like to encourage you all to come to the launch event of the ‘Alternative Employee Representation’ tomorrow,” a meeting that coincidentally begins at the same time as the works council meeting.
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N26 tried to prevent the meeting, citing alleged “lack of hygiene” in connection with the coronavirus pandemic, as Finance Forward first reported yesterday.
Nevertheless, the works council managed to schedule the elections and declared:
“As you have probably heard, N26 has obtained an injunction against the original signatories of the invitation to the meeting to vote on the electoral boards of N26 Operations GmbH and N26 GmbH.
This means that the original signatories are prevented from chairing the meeting. However, ver.di, the union supporting the works council process, has offered to chair the meeting itself. Therefore, the elections will still take place at the same time and place (…).
The fact that the union is chairing the meeting is fully in line with German law, so employees still have a legal right to attend without facing any consequences. Attendance + travel to the venue and back to the office count as working time. The company may not prevent any employee from attending the meeting.”
Employees are demanding more co-determination in the company because trust in the company management, which is supposed to ensure the well-being of the entire workforce, is at an all-time low.
Although the six employees responsible for the founding will not be present, they can still be elected to the works council board.
N26 conducted an engagement survey to respond to employee dissatisfaction, but the response was that setting up an Employee Experience team is a positive first step, but it is not enough.
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