A legal dispute is currently taking place at Labour Court Braunschweig between the AfD-affiliated association "Zentrum", which classifies itself as a trade union, and Volkswagen Group Services. "Zentrum" is demanding access to the plant in Isenbüttel so that union shop stewards can be elected there.
Prof. Dr. Horst Call, labour law expert at the Faculty of Law at Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, explains in the article of the Braunschweiger Zeitung of 6 August 2025 that the German constitution grants all trade unions, in principle including the AfD-affiliated association "Zentrum", a constitutionally protected right of coalition. This means that "Zentrum" has the fundamental right to campaign for itself in companies and to have shop stewards elected. However, an employer does not always have to grant access to trade union members from outside the company. Rather, this must be weighed up and decided on a case-by-case basis.