Germany: Volkswagen’s new car software developer, CSO, signs an ‘iterative’ collective agreement

On 28 January Volkswagen Group management together with the IG Metall union announced the signature of an in-house agreement for the 4,000 employees of the Group’s new software development company, the Car.Software Organisation (CSO), which was founded in 2020. The agreement, which draws on both Volkswagen’s in-house collective agreement and that of the metal industry sector, is pioneering in so far as it has a special focus on working in autonomous teams, and includes new features such as the introduction of the ‘work limitation’ provision. The agreement is also innovative in terms of the operational and human ‘scope’ of this new Group unit. Lastly, the agreement is intended to be ‘iterative’ i.e. one that will be regularly adjusted.