VAG is used to working with a “works council”. Sometimes, the works council has an impact. Several years ago, VAG hired McKinsey to recommend cost cuts. Knowing that McKiney’s default recommendation is always Prole head count reduction, the union pushed back, hard. VAG cancelled the contract with McKinsey.
It doesn’t hurt that the German government, and, iirc, the government of Lower Saxony, hold VAG shares too, and they tend to respond to voters, rather than which lobbyist writes the biggest check.
Steve