Hück Out of Fray for IG Metall Top Job

Uwe Hück, head of the works council for Porsche AG, said on Thursday he won’t be running for the top seat at IG Metall, Germany’s metalworkers and engineering union. Hück told Reuters he had been assured by his regional union chief, Baden-Württemberg district manager Berthold Huber, that structural changes would be introduced in the union. The surprise announcement averts a looming power struggle at Germany’s largest industrial trade union, plagued in recent months by a series of unsuccessful strikes over working hours and bitter infighting for the reins that led to the resignation of union chief Klaus Zwickel. Hück had announced his candidacy as a form of protest against alleged maneuvers by incumbent IG Metall boss Jürgen Peters to install as many of his supporters as possible in places of power on the union’s executive board. IG Metall plans to elect its new supervisory board over the coming weekend.