FRANKFURT, Reuters – Volkswagen (DE)’s Labour Leader took aim at Herbert Diess (CE:), accusing him not of taking an interest workers’ concerns. He also rekindled a long-standing dispute ahead of Wednesday’s supervisory board meeting.

The emotions at Europe’s biggest carmaker have been running high since Diess stated last month to a supervisory board that the company might lose 30,000 jobs if they move too slowly towards electric cars.

Comments made Wednesday by Daniela Cavallo, who was appointed head of Volkswagen’s Works Council this year after replacing Bernd Osterloh (a bitter opponent to Diess), mark a new low in a long-standing relationship fraught with conflicts.

After it was clear that Diess (NASDAQ:) is pushing Volkswagen aggressively to overtake Tesla (NASDAQ), he would not participate in the Nov. 4 staff meeting and instead met with US politicians and investors.

It is clear why the company was forced to cancel. Cavallo explained that Herbert Diess chose Wall Street investors rather than the company’s employees – this is a new pattern in our group’s history, and it once again shows the fact that the group’s chief executive doesn’t have empathy or sense of the workers’ situation in times of crisis.

“He doesn’t seem to be interested in the issues of the workforce.”

VW spokeswoman said that Diess’ trip to the U.S. had been scheduled for some time, and couldn’t be changed. Diess, meantime, has invited staff at Volkswagen’s Wolfsburg plant to a Q&A session on Oct. 28, the day of third-quarter results.

This conflict will be addressed at the supervisory board meeting that is scheduled later Wednesday. It will focus on the automaker’s five-year investment plan. These are expected to be approved on November 12.