Harley-Davidson Cologne
Harley-Davidson terminates the H-D dealer agreement with Harley-Davidson Cologne and Bonn

Harley-Davidson terminates the H-D dealer agreement with Harley-Davidson Cologne and Bonn

A fully qualified lawyer employed by Ver.di and his Twitter posse has more than 50 employees fearing for their jobs.

The current report will certainly be an exciting thriller this year.

Harley-Davidson has surprisingly terminated the dealership agreement with Harley-Davidson Cologne and Harley-Davidson Bonn as of December 31, 2021.

Harley-Davidson Cancels H-D Dealer Agreement with Harley-Davidson Cologne and Bonn

Die Begründung lautet „Rassismus“, Harley-Davidson befürchtet einen Reputationsschaden für die Marke Harley-Davidson und den Namen Harley-Davidson Köln. Diese Debatte wurde durch den bei Verdi angestellten Bielefelder Volljuristen, Dr. Onur Ocak via Twitter triggered.

Originally, a former employee of Harley-Davidson Cologne wanted the Ver.di lawyer to clarify why her last pay slip was lower than expected. The Ver.di lawyer, Dr. Onur Ocak, then wrote to the authorized dealer and gave legal assurance that he was acting on behalf of the former employee. Normally, a copy of the power of attorney signed by the client is attached to the first letter, but this was missing. The lawyer then received the following notification in a reply from the now former managing director of the holding company of Harley-Davidson Cologne and Bonn!

„Perhaps it is customary in the country you come from to simply insure a power of attorney, but not here in our country. And if their title is actually genuine, they know that too.“

The Ver.di fully qualified lawyer reacts on Twitter

This in turn prompted the Ver.di lawyer to publish the letter on Twitter. Now you have to know that Dr. Ocak is not only employed by Ver.di as a lawyer, but also acts as a politician with a party book with the Left Party, who has applied as a candidate for the NRW state executive board in December 2021. He also refers to himself on Twitter as an ex-mayor candidate. And now we all know that every politician looking for media attention is on Twitter.

So we can well understand what has happened now, obviously Dr. Ocak turned to Der Spiegel to give the whole thing a little media push. This was successful, Spiegel reacted and published an article on the subject, which spread further. It didn't take long for other media outlets to jump on the bandwagon.

However, neither the journalist from Der Spiegel (Kristin Haug) nor Dr. Ocak made a distinction between the Harley-Davidson Cologne company and the Harley-Davidson Company. As Dr. Ocak still links Harley-Davidson in his Twitter messages today and not the Harley-Davidson Cologne company, which is responsible for itself.

Of course, Harley-Davidson didn't like this and demanded a correction from Spiegel, which Spiegel complied with.

Link to the article in Der Spiegel

Harley-Davidson distances itself!

Harley-Davidson has clearly distanced itself from the statements made by the Managing Director of the holding company. In further talks between the management of Harley-Davidson and the managing director of the holding company, it was agreed that the managing director would step down from his position as managing director and leave the company. This is exactly what happened, but Harley-Davidson has now terminated the dealer contract of both companies, Cologne and Bonn, which belong to the holding company because of the accusation of racism.

Now the damage may amount to several million euros

The big question now is whether this will be legally upheld, as damages could now run into the millions. The former managing director will now take legal action to determine whether Dr. Ocak was authorized to publish the letter at all. The court will have to clarify whether it is actually about racism and whether Dr. Ocak actually had the signed power of attorney at the time of the letter.

As a lawyer with a doctorate, you are actually subject to professional ethics and the lawyer's duty of confidentiality. The fact that the Verdi lawyer published the correspondence could now fall on the feet of the Left Party member. Regardless of whether the reply from the former managing director was racist or not. Both have certainly made mistakes here, but one of them has already drawn the consequences.

Questions upon questions that could end up causing quite a stir, plus the fact that Dr. Ocak works for Ver.di, should claims for damages become due here, which a court has to clarify, the story could also become a Twitter farce with sustainable development for the politician.

A tough start to the new year for employees

What will happen now in Cologne and Bonn and why can't another solution be found if the person responsible has left the company? We are now talking about 50 employees, of whom over 90 % are certainly doing their dream job, because we all know that Harley-Davidson is always about more than just working. Emotions, myth and the fun of motorcycling play a very important role here.

Harley-Davidson Bonn

Harley-Davidson Bonn belongs to a holding company to which Harley-Davidson Cologne also belongs, and it was the now former managing director of the holding company who got the ball rolling, not the managing directors of Harley-Davidson Cologne, as was sometimes rumored.

Thus, the racism discussion of Harley-Davidson Cologne has drawn considerable circles and also cost Harley-Davidson Bonn the Harley-Davidson dealer contract.

Statement from former Harley-Davidson Cologne

A few days ago, we were surprised by the „termination without notice“ of our dealer contracts for Cologne AND Bonn. We are currently having these terminations legally reviewed by the Frankfurt Regional Court; we are being supported in this by a prominent law firm from Cologne.

In our legal opinion, the termination is invalid for various reasons. In our view, the stated reason for termination is insufficient and completely disproportionate.
It is reasonable to assume that this is a pretext that is justified in another way. The fact that all of this is now being carried out on the backs of our customers and employees regardless of the consequences leaves us stunned by the current situation and in no way reflects the spirit of this great brand.

IMPORTANT FOR OUR CUSTOMERS:

The delivery of the ordered new vehicles will be guaranteed and on time! Store & workshop are open!
As far as warranty and service work is concerned, all our employees are highly trained; we have all the necessary tools and diagnostic tools, so that we fulfill all the necessary requirements to ensure that Harley-Davidson is supplied with original spare parts in accordance with the Block Exemption Regulation (BER). This means that nothing will change for our customers in terms of workshop technology.

We will keep you up to date and hope for your support!

Cologne in January 2022“

H-D Cologne and Bonn

Managing Director Daniela Kierdorf / Jan Schneider

1TP5End of the opinion

The following Harley-Davidson dealerships have been without an H-D dealer agreement since 2022

Harley-Davidson Ignition Austria

The former Austrian Harley-Davidson authorized dealer Zündwerk, has said goodbye in an emotional post and announced that it will no longer be an official H-D authorized dealer at the end of 2021 and will close its store. The workshop will continue to operate until March 31, 2022. Link to the whole article

Harley-Heaven Switzerland

The situation was different in Zurich/Dietcon, however, where the now former H-D authorized dealer Harley-Heaven had its H-D contract revoked because Harley-Davidson felt that other motorcycle manufacturers in the immediate vicinity of the store did not fit in with the H-D concept. Link to the whole article

External link to Harley-Davidson Cologne

External link to Harley-Davidson Bonn

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