Unlock the future of the MAN Factory in Steyr

A spokesman for Wolf told ORF Radio Upper Austria late Thursday afternoon: “There can and will not be any improvements.” Neither the number of employees nor the salary cuts in the room. Because even with these, one could have paid much higher than the collective agreement in effect in the future. There is no other way to manage the site economically. The next few weeks will show how far this is set in stone. At the state level, one pleads to maintain the urge to speak.

Union insists on a security agreement at the site

In Steyr, after the vote and recent announcement of lockdown by MAN, some are ready to fight, such as former SPÖ Health Minister Alois Stöger, who was a unionist in negotiations with Wolff. In an interview with ORF, he talked about the fact that it would be too expensive for MAN “because there is an agreement to secure the site, and it’s a contract that we’ll also take to court.” Others lament the outcome of the vote, such as Thomas Kutsam, the Man’s Staff Council, who is “very personally disappointed”: “We are now back at the start.”

Even in Steyr’s city policy, the MAN’s end site has not been sealed, and they want to try everything to enable further negotiations with potential investors. Siegfried Wolf remains the first point of contact. In the end, he left it open if he still wanted to.

Not only a matter of money, it is also a matter of time

As far as other interested parties are concerned, it is not just about money, but also about time. If the manpower had said yes to Wolf’s polling plans, the sales contract would be signed with MAN immediately. Then the so-called shutdown was supposed to begin, that is, to handle delivery and as of June, the plant in Steyr would be the property of Wolf – with all obligations. MAN could have purchased trucks produced in Steyr from Wolf by the planned closing date of the end of 2022; At the same time, it was possible to create a new production facility on the basis of the Wolf concept. Paying wages and salaries was Wolf’s business from June onwards.

Any other investor who can do this for nearly 2,400 employees from June onwards is currently more than in question, and therefore also wants country policy that the MAN Group also has a conversation with other interested parties. Because MAN, which the VW Group is behind, is likely to take a closer look at investors hiding behind interest groups. For reasons of expensive technology alone, it is difficult to imagine negotiating with groups backed by Chinese interests.