Porsche Establishes New Engineering Unit

09/24/96

Reuters reports that German sports car maker Dr. Ing.h.c.F.Porsche AG announced its intention to create a new engineering subsidiary in October. the new unit will employ 120 people to fill rising orders for engineering services. Porsche will call the new company Porsche Engineering Services GmbH, and it will perform construction and development services.

The company said that the new unit will not join the employers' association and that the people who staff it will have to work 40-hours a week rather than the engineering industry standard, which is only 38.5 hours. Porsche chairman Wendelin Wiedeking's statement said, "we have to go in new directions in order to remain competitive."

Porsche's decision to force employees to work longer hours sidesteps agreements between German employers' associations and trade unions, and it could restart a long-standing conflict between the associations and member companies, as well as with unions. Wiedeking claimed that Porsche's alternative would have been to decline to accept new orders: "this would have cost engineering jobss."

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel