Agricultural technology manufacturer Pöttinger sent 200 employees to the AMS this summer with promises of redeployment. Now another company has to take this measure: the Stiwa Group from Attnang-Puchheim will report employees as unemployed for a certain period, while others will have their working hours reduced or wages lost.
The decrease in the number of temporary employees took place at the end of last year; this year, 250 permanent employees were laid off and another 70 left the company because they wanted to change jobs. “Some go to study, others retire,” says Peter Sticht.
The head of the Stiwa Group, which specializes in automation and production, informed employees of the holding company in Attnang-Puchheim and the software division in Hagenberg on Tuesday that the family business, which has shrunk to fewer than 1,800 employees in Austria, is not having enough to make.
Because: The order situation is still very mixed in some cases. “The competitive environment is very demanding, times are very uncertain,” says Sticht. That is why a package of measures was put together, about which the majority of the car supplier’s employees were informed in October.
What does this package provide? In addition to a voluntary wage exemption and reduction of working hours with associated salary reduction, employees will also have to be sent to the AMS with the promise of reemployment. All this means that, as soon as the markets pick up again, you can get back to work with the strongest possible core team.
“We have no other choice”
“We have no other choice. If there is permanent no work or projects are postponed, we have to respond,” says Sticht. There is underutilization in the mechanical construction and in September a production line for transmission components also had to be completely shut down because an order was canceled.
“Everyone must contribute”
And even though software utilization is still relatively good, all employees are asked to contribute to cost savings, says the company boss. “Ultimately, everyone should contribute to saving costs.”
The past few years have been extremely demanding and have left their mark: first the pandemic, then inflation, the turbulence in the energy sector, now reduced consumer confidence, the unrest in the industry. “We are stumbling from one crisis to another,” sighs Sticht. What makes it particularly difficult? “The competitive pressure from China has never been as strong as it is now.”
More and more companies cannot resist the temptation and prefer to buy their parts in China. Moreover, Asian manufacturers are flooding the European market with their products: whether in photovoltaic systems, electric cars or the battery industry. Exports from China are extremely subsidized. “Money plays no role there,” says Sticht.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
