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It was several hundred meters long and a deafening noise: the queue of people coming down the hill from gate 1 of the MAN floor to the center of Steyr around noon with the sounds of Ostbahn-Kurti, Seiler and Speer, as well as What in. “Weust a Mensch are,” echoed over the loudspeakers as the roughly 3,500 participants left.
Employees of the truck manufacturer stopped their work for a few hours on Thursday and protested the imminent end of the plant. There was a state of emergency in Steyr’s town square for about an hour and a half.
“It is a shame that the board in Germany has not kept its promises,” employee works council Thomas Kutsam said of parent company Volkswagen’s plans. As reported, the automaker is achieving massive savings at the trucking subsidiary for cost reasons. 9,500 employees in Germany and Austria are at risk of losing their jobs, around 2,500 of them at Steyr.
Warning strike by MAN workers in Steyr
MAN’s workforce is combative. With broad support, he is fighting the plant closure in Steyr during a warning strike Thursday.
High tones, emotional words
They had prepared for the protest march: they waved flags, blew horns and whistles, and held signs in the air. “Steyr didn’t deserve that” read as well as “After 100 years is not the end.” Hundreds of onlookers pulled out their cell phones and cheered on the protesters.
Politicians also insisted on standing out in front of the assembled workforce and calling attention to high pitches in the direction of corporate governance. “It cannot be that corporations collect subsidies and state aid and then put their employees on the streets and emigrate to low-wage countries,” said SP director Pamela Rendi-Wagner. There were isolated boos, but there was also approval from Upper Austria’s economic adviser, Markus Achleitner (VP), who told employees: “We are doing everything possible to save every job.” In Upper Austria there is close cooperation between the state government and the social partners. Discussions are ongoing with VW’s board members and owners.
Erich Schwarz, head of the works council for the Steyr plant, gave an emotional speech. “The board members gave us all this, and now should we serve ourselves the soup? You can’t treat us that way!” Schwarz emphasized again that the Steyr plant was profitable. In December of the previous year he was presented with a contract on the “future viability of MAN Truck & Bus Austria”. “It was supposed to be valid for ten years, but now it doesn’t even last ten months,” criticized Schwarz and won thunderous applause.
“And bang, so the booth is locked”
Pro-Ge unionist Rainer Wimmer was also determined. “We don’t want to produce rubber rings, lighters or bowls at Steyr, but also trucks in the future.” Above all, the early termination of the location agreement is angry with Hallstatt. “First there is a guarantee, and bang, then the booth closes suddenly.”
If MAN owner VW has his way, the doors at Steyr should close by the end of 2023 at the latest. Economy Minister Margarete Schramböck (VP) announced earlier this month that she was working in an Austrian consortium for the location.
That was little comfort to the employees yesterday. “Lock us up, thousands of livelihoods are threatened,” said one employee, shaking his head. Postscript: “Where is the morality?”
Article of
Martin roithner
Economy editor
