The employee representatives stated that they would hold further talks with investor Siegfried Wolf.
A MAN truck.
The negotiations on the maintenance of the MAN location in Steyr in Upper Austria, which were postponed on Wednesday, are now continuing “internally” between the employee representatives and the investor Siegfried Wolf. This was reported by the workers' works council Erich Schwarz on APA request. In addition, one is waiting for the concept of the recently emerged group of bidders around the Linz entrepreneur Karl Egger (KeKelit).
Schwarz spoke of the fact that talks with Wolf would now last two to three weeks. He did not want to reveal details – it was agreed that negotiation results that were not agreed on would not be disclosed to the outside world.
However, the media reported that it was about the high wages of MAN employees in Steyr. Wolf therefore wants MAN to pay the severance payments and he can then take over part of the workforce with lower wages and salaries. Schwarz pointed out to investor Wolf his connections to the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and his car maker GAZ as well as the repeatedly imposed sanctions against Russia. The works council emphasized, however, that Wolf was a “man of honor” and also an Austrian.
Another group of investors
This also applies to Egger and his group of Upper Austrian entrepreneurs and the former Federal Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer (SPÖ) and Siemens Austria boss Wolfgang Hesoun in the area who are interested in the MAN location. Schwarz said she showed up about three weeks ago. Now we are waiting for her to present a promising concept in the shortest possible time. The better should be accepted. However, if the owner decides to whom to sell, Schwarz restricts the options for employee representation.
MAN plans to close the plant in Steyr in 2023 as part of a group-wide savings program. 2,300 employees would be affected. Workers and politicians insist that the site is profitable and that there are site security contracts. These should actually have guaranteed the stock until 2030, but this was canceled by MAN. Since the mother's savings plans became known, a solution for Steyr has been struggled with.
