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The Playmobil works council has written a letter criticizing the management of the company. (Iconic image) © Thomas Imo/photothek.net
The Playmobil works council has written a letter criticizing the management of the company. A company spokesman describes this as “unfounded”.
Nuremberg – The Playmobil figures inspire generations from children. The well-known toy brand was founded by the company owner Horst Brandstätter, who died in 2015. The company’s headquarters are in Zirndorf near Nuremberg. But the atmosphere there doesn’t seem to be as cheerful as the colorful figures suggest.
“Humiliations”: spokesman describes allegations as “unfounded”
This is suggested by a letter from the works council to the workforce manager magazine present. It contains massive allegations against the company management: “With the way the company has been managed since the death of our patriarch Horst Brandstätter, you are trampling on the legacy,” the seven-page letter says. Meanwhile, “fear and humiliation are the order of the day,” the magazine quoted from the document.
Mothers who come back from parental leave would therefore be “managed until they quit”. There is also an allegation that the collective agreement negotiated in July 2022 has not yet been implemented. A spokesman for the company referred to these allegations IPPEN.MEDIA on Wednesday as “unfounded”.
However, he confirmed that at the works meetings at all three locations a speech was read out in which “the statement ‘humiliation is the order of the day’ was made without justification”. However, this statement did not come from the works council chairman or his deputy, who were not present at all. “In our company there is no humiliation of employees,” said the spokesman.
Playmobil: There has often been a quarrel between the works council and company management
In fact, in recent years there has always been a quarrel between the works council and company management. In 2019, the management failed with a lawsuit against its own works council because it had called on employees to take heat breaks in the hot summer of 2018. Before that, there were headlines in 2016 because of the arguments about the works council elections.
Beyond the quarrels, the company can look back on decades of history: Playmobil was launched in 1974 – since then the toys can be found in many children’s rooms. The caesura followed in 2015: the company patriarch Horst Brandstätter died and left Playmobil with billions.
After his death, a double foundation came into play: a charitable foundation and a corporate foundation, in which the most important employees are represented. At the end of 2016, Steffen Höpfner took over as CEO. In the past 2021/2022 financial year, Playmobil struggled with declining revenues manager magazine assumes that the 2022/2023 financial year was also rather “disappointing”.