Daniela Cavallo (born 3 April 1975) is a German business executive who has been chairwoman of the General (''Gesamtbetriebsrat'') and Group

Works Council A works council is a shop-floor organization representing workers that functions as a local/firm-level complement to trade unions but is independent of these at least in some countries. Works councils exist with different names in a variety of re ...

(''Konzernbetriebsrat'') of the

Volkswagen Group Volkswagen AG (), known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. The company designs, manufactures and distributes passenger and commercial ...

since May 2021.

Career

Cavallo was born to

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

parents. Her father came to Wolfsburg with the first wave of

guest workers Foreign workers or guest workers are people who work in a country other than one of which they are a citizen. Some foreign workers use a guest worker program in a country with more preferred job prospects than in their home country. Guest worker ...

and worked at the

Wolfsburg Volkswagen Plant The Wolfsburg Volkswagen Factory is the worldwide headquarters of the Volkswagen Group, and one of the largest manufacturing plants in the world, in terms of area at just under 6.5 million m² (70 million sq ft). The Wolfsburg plant produced 815 ...

. According to the financial news website

Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...

, her Italian origin is important to her. She feels like at home in both countries, but she is really at home in Wolfsburg. After graduating from high school in 1994, she completed an apprenticeship as an office clerk at Volkswagen and qualified as a business administrator. She was also involved in youth and trainee representation. In 2002, Cavallo was elected to the

workers council A workers' council or labor council is a form of political and economic organization in which a workplace or municipality is governed by a council made up of workers or their elected delegates. The workers within each council decide on what thei ...

of the then

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

subsidiary

Auto 5000 Auto 5000 GmbH was a German vehicle manufacturing company set up inside the Volkswagen complex in Wolfsburg. The company was set up as a lower cost model with the aim of keeping manufacturing jobs in Germany at a time when production was moving t ...

. After the birth of her children, she interrupted her work between 2004 and 2008 as the first works council member at Volkswagen for parental leave. Cavallo has been a member of the Volkswagen General Works Council since 2013. In 2019, she was elected deputy to long-term chairman of the General and Group Works Council, Bernd Osterloh. After, Osterloh became the new Chief Human Resources Officer at the Volkswagen commercial vehicle subsidiary

Traton Traton SE, known as the Traton Group (formerly Volkswagen Truck & Bus AG), is a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group and one of the world's largest commercial vehicle manufacturers, with its MAN, Scania, Navistar, and Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônib ...

, Cavallo took over on 23 April 2021. According to the

Handelsblatt The ''Handelsblatt'' (literally "commerce paper" in English) is a German-language business newspaper published in Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Du ...

, the leap of the daughter of an Italian guest worker family to the top of the group's employee representatives is "an important moment not only for Volkswagen, but for the entire trade union movement. Because for the first time the giant Volkswagen corporation with 660,000 employees worldwide has a woman as its top employee representative". According to

Die Tageszeitung ''Die Tageszeitung'' (, “The Daily Newspaper”), is counted as being one of modern Germany's most important newspapers and amongst the top seven. taz is stylized as ''die tageszeitung'' and commonly referred to as ''taz'', is a cooperative-own ...

and

Manager Magazin ''Manager Magazin'' (stylized as ''manager magazin'') is a German monthly business magazine focusing on business, finance and management based in Hamburg, Germany. History and profile ''Manager Magazin'' was first published on 1 November 1971. ...

, Cavallo "is now in what is probably the most powerful position on the employee side in German industry". Cavallo's predecessor Osterloh describes her as "strong leadership, empathic and so strategically thinking that many will be surprised". The head of the car manufacturer's employee representatives stood. In a long interview with editors of the weekly newspaper

Die Zeit ''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The ...

in June 2021, Cavallo spoke about controversial high salary payments to the works councils and the effects of the

Volkswagen emissions scandal The Volkswagen emissions scandal, sometimes known as Dieselgate or Emissionsgate, began in September 2015, when the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to German automaker Vol ...

. She is also concerned about xenophobic incidents at the Volkswagen Zwickau-Mosel Plant. Because of her origins as the daughter of a guest-worker, she feels particularly drawn to fighting racism and xenophobia in Volkswagen Group and to improving career opportunities for women.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cavallo, Daniela 1975 births Living people German people of Italian descent Women corporate executives Volkswagen Group executives 20th-century German businesspeople 21st-century German businesspeople People from Wolfsburg Works councillors

Career

See also

References