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“It is hotter here in Steyr than in Vienna,” said union leader Wolfgang Katzian and stood in the sun, only to get angry. “We are here today to show our grudges.”
The top representatives of the Vienna trade unions arrived at gate 1 of the MAN factory in Steyr at noon yesterday. They were received by the president of the works council, Erich Schwarz, and the company advisor for employees, Thomas Kutsam. In a two-and-a-half hour conversation, a strategy was to be developed to rescue the trucking plant, which currently has 2,300 employees. Then it became clear: in addition to the discussions, also with colleagues from the German union, there should also be strong protests: on Thursday, October 15, the unions Pro-Ge and GPA-djp want to start a protest march with the MAN workforce . The march should start at noon and there should be a rally in Steyr’s main square. “We want to show VW that you can’t shut down Steyr,” says Rainer Wimmer, a Pro-Ge unionist.
- Video: Union leaders visit
Examination of the placement contract
He shot Volkswagen hard: “If VW bosses believe that Steyr’s colleagues are funding the emissions scandal, then they can forget about it.” Wimmer said they are in contact with IG-Metall. In addition to the fact that the German union is more likely to support the German plants in Plauen and Wittlich, Wimmer says: “It’s about 100-150 employees, it’s about an entire region.”
All the worker representatives who arrived yesterday collided with the fact that the site safety agreement was only extended at the end of 2018 and has now been terminated on September 30 by the MAN Executive Board in Munich. Katzian: “We will do everything possible to maintain the MAN plant.” Postscript: “Because you give up a letter.”
In doing so, the trade unionist meets the mood of the workforce, which after the initial shock fluctuates between combative and hopeful. “Now we can only show that we can. Otherwise we will have already lost,” can be heard at the factory.
Representatives of the workforce now have the legal validity of the placement contract verified by the Viennese law firm Jarolim & Partner. The argument: the so-called bad weather clause, that is, financial problems, could not be stated, at least for the Steyr plant. “We delivered 20 million euros in profit to Munich last year, 33 million euros the year before and 97 million euros in 2017.”
On the contrary, it can be heard from the Volkswagen Group that the group’s management did not facilitate the decision and that the three plants to be closed would not meet the group’s standards, so the closure plan is on the right track. Katzian remains optimistic: “The VW Group has never closed a plant.”
Controversial point: high labor costs
The Volkswagen Group, as the owner of MAN SE, keeps leaking in the background that high wage costs at Steyr are the key location issue. Works council chairman Schwarz did not accept that yesterday: “Pure labor costs in truck production are five percent. If logistics costs are taken into account, they are still not more than ten percent.” Schwarz argues the high overpayment through the collective bargaining of metalworkers with high productivity. “We have performance salaries, but the performance has to be right.”
Johann Kalliauer, Chairman of AK and Chairman of ÖGB in Upper Austria, who was also present at the social partners discussion with Governor Thomas Stelzer and Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in Linz in the morning, said that the question now is: “¿ What can we do together? ” Everything, including political measures, should be coordinated with the works council. “He knows his counterpart better.” The MAN Executive Committee and the Group Works Council are working on a schedule of negotiations.
Steyr’s union leadership, especially ÖGB boss Wolfgang Katzian (left)
Image: fotokerschi.at
